Wilmette investment adviser arrested on fraud charges

A north suburban investment adviser was arrested Monday on federal charges that he defrauded his clients of at least $1 million, some of which he allegedly gambled away at local casinos.

Alan Gold, 60, was charged in a criminal complaint that was unsealed following his arrest Monday morning at his Wilmette home, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.

As early as 2008, Gold told clients that he would make “alternative investments” on their behalf using funds he would wire from their brokerage accounts to his bank account, prosecutors claim.

For at least five years, he gave clients false account statements saying their assets were invested in certain real estate ventures, stocks and futures contracts, among other things.

But instead of buying securities and futures contracts, Gold used the money to gamble at area casinos and pay for other personal living expenses, prosecutors claim.

Gold managed several million dollars of client funds, and ultimately defrauded them of at least $1 million, prosecutors said. Authorities began investigating after Gold stopped returning phone calls, and a client reported the matter to law enforcement.

Gold ran his company, Alan Gold & Associates, out of his home, which FBI agents searched Monday morning, the statement said.

If convicted of wire fraud, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the statement.

Gold was released on a $10,000 recognizance bond at a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert, and will be back in court June 15.