Secretary of state: Investment adviser took advantage of elderly widow with possible Alzheimer’s
May 21, 2012 by Alli Knothe
By Alli Knothe, Globe Correspondent
A Maryland-based investment firm has been ordered to return more than $1 million after an employee allegedly took advantage of an elderly widow likely suffering from dementia.
Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin also levied a $90,000 fine, as well as several other financial sanctions, against H. Beck Inc. after the company allegedly failed to supervise Paul Dumouchel of Wellesley.
Galvin said that “for several years no one from H. Beck was supervising him and making themselves aware of his outside activities. This made it possible for the agent to shift his client’s funds to wholly inappropriate investments.”
Dumouchel worked for H. Beck from February 2009 to November 2011. In 2010, he met an 82-year-old woman through a mail solicitation.
The woman was likely suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, Galvin’s office said.
Dumouchel allegedly drove the woman to local banks and persuaded her to withdraw more than $1 million from certificates of deposit and invest them in annuities. By withdrawing from those certificates, the woman was charged about $5,000 in penalties. Dumouchel made about $63,000 in commission on the annuities.
The terms of the annuities, Galvin said in a statement, prevented the woman from accessing her money without a penalty for at least a decade.
In less than a month, the investor bought more than $1,040,000 worth of annuities at Dumouchel’s recommendation, Galvin’s office said.
Alli Knothe can be reached at aknothe@globe.com.