Ex-Joliet financial advisor gets 2 years in prison in $800K fraud case

A former financial advisor for the Joliet branch of Edward Jones was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay $710,308 to his former employer after he pleaded guilty to stealing about $800,000 from several clients.

U.S. Judge Robert Gettleman sentenced Ronald Molo, 63, of Shorewood, on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty on Dec. 1 to one count of wire fraud. Five other counts of the same offense were dropped as part of a plea agreement.

Molo was indicted on Nov. 11, 2021, following an FBI investigation that had help from the Joliet Police Department, Illinois Securities Department and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Molo must surrender to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons before 2 p.m. on Aug. 15 to serve his sentence.

Molo was described by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Havey in a May 10 sentencing memorandum as a trusted investment advisor who “blatantly stole” from his three clients.

“The victims were unsophisticated investors, of retirement age, who trusted Molo to safely invest their retirement funds for their benefit,” Havey said.

Molo took advantage of that trust by wasting their money on a “variety of personal expenses” such as credit card bills, home mortgages, car payments, home remodeling expenses, travel expenses, payments to family members and other personal expenses “unrelated to investments for his clients’ benefit,” Havey said.

One of the victims considered Molo a personal friend and expressed “disbelief at how Molo could have exploited their friendship to steal from him,” Havey said.

Havey quoted the victim’s impact statement, which said, “It turns my stomach to think that I instilled so much trust in someone who knowingly took my wife’s deceased father’s inheritance without batting an eye.”

Havey noted that Molo’s former employer, Edward Jones, “admirably” reimbursed the victims for their losses. As a result, he recommended Molo pay $710,308 to the company as restitution.

Havey said Molo is a college-educated, experienced financial advisor who showed no remorse for his fraud, lied to an FBI case agent, ignored a federal subpoena for records and took a trip to Florida before surrendering to authorities.

“Molo did not commit this crime out of financial need or without thought and planning. He planned to steal from three different people, and he carried out that crime over an extended period of time. Even after getting caught, Molo continued lying – to his employer, to the FBI, and apparently to the community as well,” Havey said.

Havey said it is unlikely Edward Jones will ever be fully repaid because Molo “squandered virtually all the money that he stole from the victims, and he is not currently working or showing any remorse for his offense.”

Molo’s attorney, Joshua Adams, said in a May 15 sentencing memorandum that Molo should receive two years of probation instead of prison time. Adams argued that Molo must repay Edward Jones, something “he cannot do in a prison cell.”

Adams acknowledged that Molo betrayed the trust of his clients and used the money for personal expenses and material gain.

“However, this is a unique case,” Adams said.

Adams said victims are “lucky that Edward Jones is a large enough brokerage that they were made whole.”