Wilmette investment adviser gets 75 months for fraud

A north suburban investment adviser was sentenced Wednesday to 75 months in prison for defrauding clients of nearly $2 million, some of which he allegedly gambled away at local casinos.

Alan Gold, 61, was arrested in June 2015 at his Wimette home, and pleaded guilty in January to five counts of wire fraud, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo imposed the 75-month sentence in federal court in Chicago.

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

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 personal living expenses, prosecutors said. When clients questioned the performance of the investments, Gold said they were exceeding expectations.

Running the company, Alan Gold & Associates, out of his home, Gold managed several million dollars of client funds, and ultimately defrauded them of nearly $2 million, prosecutors said. Authorities began investigating after Gold stopped returning phone calls, and a client reported the matter to law enforcement.

In addition to the 75-month sentence, Gold was also ordered to pay restitution of more than $1.8 million, prosecutors said.