FBI Searches for Avon Fugitive Charged with Fraud

In a continuing effort to target financial fraud in Connecticut, U.S. Attorney David B. Fein Tuesday announced the results of six Connecticut Securities, Commodities and Investor Fraud Task Force investigations of individuals who have, or are alleged to have, stolen funds from investors. The prosecutions include:

• Avon resident , 49, who is alleged to have befriended and then defrauded at least three elderly women of approximately $1.2 million;
• Thomas F. Donnelly, Jr., 57, an investment manager from Madison, who has admitted that he defrauded four investors of approximately $675,000;
• Washington Depot resident Robin Bruhjell Brass, 55, who is alleged to have represented herself as a successful investment adviser to defraud five individuals, including vulnerable victims, of at least $800,000;
• Shelton resident, John H. Goldsmith, 57, who is alleged to have operated various schemes to defraud investors of more than $290,000;
• Investment adviser Michael Brady, 37, of Bolton, who has admitted that he stole more than $200,000 in investor funds;
• Gregory Viola, 59, an unregistered and unlicensed “investment adviser” from Orange, who is alleged to have defrauded numerous investors of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

U.S. v. Ilovici

On Dec. 7, a federal grand jury sitting in Hartford returned a 11-count indictment charging Ilovici with wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering offenses stemming from an alleged scheme that targeted and defrauded elderly women living in the Greater Hartford area of $1.2 million.

According to court documents for the case, those victims included a 68-year-old woman from Canton and a 76-year-old New Britain woman.

The indictment alleges that, beginning in 2008, Ilovici cultivated personal relationships with at least three elderly women in order to persuade them to liquidate relatively safe assets, purportedly, to invest money with him.

Ilovici, who at various times was employed as an insurance agent and an investment adviser, initially obtained money from the victim-investors by falsely claiming that he could invest their money in investment products that would earn a greater rate of return than their existing investments. 

Following these initial investments, Ilovici obtained additional monies from victim-investors by falsely stating that their previous investments were performing well when, in fact, they had lost substantial value.  It is alleged that Ilovici created sham loan documents to make it appear that the victim-investors had loaned or gifted him their money. 

Ilovici failed to invest the money as represented and instead diverted investors’ funds for his own personal use and benefit, by depositing the funds into his personal checking accounts, spending the money on ordinary personal expenses, transferring the money to his personal brokerage accounts in order to purchase high-risk securities for himself, and making semi-regular “lulling” payments to certain victim-investors using funds received from other victim-investors.

Ilovici has not been apprehended and is considered a fugitive from justice.  Citizens with information about his whereabouts are asked to contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation at 203-503-5000.

Ilovici and his wife  and property records at the time showed him living at 3 Laurel Ln. in Avon, owned by Sam D. and Dorothy Ilovici.

This case is being investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Connecticut Department of Banking. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Christopher M. Mattei.

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