A former New York Life broker is potentially facing decades behind bars after being convicted on 24 charges of fraud and identity theft against one client.
The verdict came only five months after a grand jury
Furman Alexander “Alex” Ford stole more than $1.3 million from a 72-year-old client by forging letters of withdrawal from an annuity account authorizing much higher outlays than the victim’s allotted $6,000 monthly payments,
Without any contribution by Ford, the insurer settled the client’s arbitration complaint for $1.4 million in June 2019,
“Integrity and trust are characteristics that all financial agents should embody,” Acting U.S. Attorney Norman Acker said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the defendant used his position to prey upon one of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens, and today he was held accountable for his criminal actions.”
New York Life “fully cooperated with the appropriate authorities throughout these proceedings and reimbursed the victim for her losses,” spokesman Kevin B. Maher said in an emailed statement.
Thomas Reston Wilson, the attorney representing Ford in both cases, didn’t respond to requests for comment. Ford is currently incarcerated ahead of the pending Medicare fraud trial and sentencing for the 24-count conviction, which carries a maximum of 37 years in prison.
The Raleigh-based advisor was affiliated with New York Life’s broker-dealer from 2007 to 2015 after tenures with five other firms since 1989, according to BrokerCheck. Between 2008 and 2010, there were three judgments or liens against Ford totaling $9,356, BrokerCheck shows.
In his outside business activities, Ford listed a consulting firm that “connects high profile athletes and entertainers to nonprofits” for free appearances at golf tournaments and other events.
Prosecutors allege that another company owned by Ford, the Integrated Alliance for Managed Healthcare, submitted false Medicare claims totaling $243,000 between October 2018 and February 2020. Ford and a co-conspirator who pleaded guilty in August allegedly claimed they were providing mental health services to 73 beneficiaries through telephone appointments. The case was part of a nationwide fraud sweep last fall
The separate fraud case resulting in Ford’s conviction involved an annuity. After the client inherited property worth $1.3 million, Ford helped her sell it and convert the proceeds into a New York Life charitable annuity trust with payments of $6,000 each month, according to investigators. From August to December 2014, the fraudulent letters of withdrawal added up to more than $400,000, and Ford withdrew $1 million on Dec. 29, 2014, investigators say.
Agents from the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service launched a probe in August 2018, according to the federal complaint, which doesn’t specify what prompted the investigation. Four months later, Ford’s longtime girlfriend told investigators that he had confessed to stealing some money from the client and had once “jumped his fence to avoid federal investigators knocking on his door,” the complaint states.
In an April 2019 interview with the agents, Ford admitted to using a copy of the client’s signature he kept on his tablet to make disbursements to his personal bank account, according to the document. At the time, Ford said the client was making an investment into a business he owned outside of New York Life, the document states.
In handwritten letters and court motions from the Albemarle District Jail in Elizabeth City, Ford alleged that the victim, witnesses and investigators had provided false and contradictory evidence. Ford accused the government of “error in the grand jury proceeding, prosecutorial misconduct and insufficiency of the indictment and constitutional violations,” according to his January motion to dismiss all of the charges.
“This case has cost [the] defendant a 30-year career in finance,” the filing says. “Once recognized in his community for his charitable work; he has now been labeled a financial predator by the government.”
District Judge Louise Wood Flanagan threw out the motion a week later. Following the conviction earlier this month, Ford’s sentencing is slated for the term of court that starts Aug. 3.
