A former New York Life broker who manipulated a 72-year-old woman he was advising out of more than $1.3 million has been ordered to serve 11 years behind bars.
Furman Alexander Ford, 52,
The Raleigh, North Carolina, man
Ford worked as an insurance and financial agent at New York Life, and the victim was his primary client while employed at the company, according to court documents.
Ford also oversaw the establishment of a charitable annuity trust with New York Life using the $1,395,747.68 in proceeds from the sale. Court documents said as the woman’s financial agent, Ford drafted and submitted letters of withdrawal from the client’s annuity account to pay for certain expenses.
But in August 2018, the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service opened an investigation into a complaint that Ford was stealing from the woman. Investigators soon found 20 separate fraudulent letters of withdrawal drafted by Ford throughout 2014 and submitted to New York Life on his client’s behalf.
Court documents said Ford mailed the letters from his North Carolina office, and requests in the correspondence ranged from $5,000 to $45,000. When shown the documents, the woman Ford was advising said she had never seen or approved the withdrawals.
Federal investigators determined that the fraudulent letters resulted in Ford stealing more than $376,000 from the woman and placing that cash in his personal checking account to purchase a BMW, Rolex watches and firearms; cover his child support payments; and take a cruise to the Bahamas.
In December 2014, Ford withdrew an additional $1 million from his client’s annuity account, and those funds were also used to support his luxurious lifestyle.
During the course of the investigation, Ford’s longtime girlfriend told agents that he confessed to stealing from his client and once “jumped his fence to avoid federal investigators knocking on his door,” according to court documents.
Ford personally spoke to federal agents in April 2019. Court documents said during the interview, Ford admitted to using a copy of the client’s signature saved on his tablet to make disbursements to his personal bank account.
Ford then claimed the client was making an investment into a business he owned outside of New York Life.
In handwritten letters and court motions submitted from jail and prior to his conviction, 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 a motion to dismiss all of the charges. That motion was denied.
“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.”
In a statement, New York Life leaders said they “fully cooperated with the appropriate authorities throughout these proceedings and reimbursed the victim for her losses.”
Ford’s affiliation with New York Life ran from 2007 to 2015. Before that, he had tenures with five other firms dating back to 1989. According to BrokerCheck, there were three judgments or liens against Ford totaling $9,356 between 2008 and 2010.
This theft is not the only criminal case with Ford at its center. In October 2020, he was charged in a still-pending case that was part of
Prosecutors allege that another company Ford owned, the Integrated Alliance for Managed Healthcare, submitted false Medicare claims totaling $243,000 between October 2018 and February 2020.
Ford claimed the company was providing mental health services to 73 beneficiaries through telephone appointments. The case was part of a nationwide fraud sweep in fall 2020 charging 345 people with making false claims of $6 billion, including about $4.5 billion relating to telemedicine.
The indictment in the health care fraud further alleges that Ford and others gathered the Medicare information of unsuspecting beneficiaries by marketing telehealth services and electronic records services, resulting in the exchange of Medicare beneficiary information.
Ford also stands accused of offering food in exchange for Medicare beneficiary information through the Integrated Alliance for Managed Healthcare Foundation. Medicare paid Ford’s company approximately $163,271.74 because of the fraudulent claim submissions, according to court documents.
Ford’s co-conspirator in the case — Jimmy Guess of Greensboro — has pleaded guilty for his involvement as a consultant for Ford’s company.
In a handwritten request Ford filed on Jan. 27, he requested the continuance of a jury trial slated to begin Jan. 31. In the letter, Ford said he tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 17 while in custody at Pamlico County Detention Center.
Ford said the facility has been under a quarantine since early December. He requested a continuance of no less than 60 days, stating that the lockdown and his positive COVID diagnosis have hindered his ability to prepare for trial.
Ford’s request was accepted, and the trial is now scheduled to begin on the morning of May 23.
Attempts to contact Ford’s attorney for comment were unsuccessful.
