Now I remember seeing this on the teevee news last night.
Partners pleaded guilty to mail fraud in Seattle on Tuesday after admitting she stole $9.4 million from her clients.
Rhonda Breard, a Kirkland, Washington-based broker, took the money from at least 37 client accounts, according to prosecutors.
“Ms. Breard made a decision early on to face the music,” said her attorney, Ronald Friedman of Seattle-based Lane Powell. “She can’t undo what she has done, but she has been as constructive as possible in cooperating with authorities.”
Breard worked at ING Financial partners, a division of ING Groep (ING.AS), from 2002 until 2010, and also operated her own independent adviser business. She appeared on television and conducted financial seminars in order to recruit new clients, prosecutors said.
She should not be shown leniency for cooperating. This is exactly why you don’t let a shoplifter off the hook when they offer to admit to and pay for the theft. If you gave people that bargain they would simply calculate that the risk of commiting a financial crime is zero as you can just return anything you stole.
She ruined enough lives and squandered peoples time. The financial costs she inflicted upon people wasted countless hours they could have spent doing whatever they want and the damage she committed should not be discounted.
My mother was Rhonda’s good friend for several years in the nineties and early aughts. Apparently Rhonda has two kids who are still fairly young and caught in the crossfire. I guess now they’ll be visiting mommy in jail.
It’s breathtaking to think of how many people’s lives have been ruined by one person’s egomania.
I’m just grateful my father wouldn’t agree to letting Rhonda “invest” their savings when my mother put the screws to him and said they’d get a better return. I love them, but my house isn’t big enough enough for two more people.
She “made a decision early on to face the music”, but only after she got caught trying to pawn a shitload of gold and jewelry for money to escape with. Claiming to be contrite etc. when your actions suggest the opposite deserves even less leniency than otherwise. Throw the book at her.