Edward Jones Financial Advisor Ronald Molo Indicted By The Feds

Ronald T. Molo (CRD 4371241), a broker and financial investment advisor formerly associated with Edwards Jones, has been indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly stealing nearly $800,000 from his clients. Molo is alleged to have engaged in a scheme to defraud beginning in 2018 involving his customers at Edward Jones. He is alleged to have perpetrated this scheme by means of materially false and fraudulent representations.

The complaint, filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office from the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, alleges that Molo told his clients that he had a promising investment opportunity involving tax-exempt, interest-bearing bonds that would yield an interest rate of approximately 5%. As the complaint states, “In reality, this investment opportunity did not exist…Molo did not intend to invest their funds at all. Instead, Molo intended to misappropriate and convert client funds to this own personal use.” Molo was able to keep the victims from discovering the fraud by making modest interest payments to them, leading them to believe that money had been invested as promised. In total, Mr. Molo defrauded at least three victims out of approximately $800,000.

Molo falsely induced his clients to execute authorization to transfer funds from their customer accounts to an outside account in order to complete the transactions. In actuality, the outside account was Molo’s personal bank account. He then allegedly used the funds to pay for various items, including several vehicles, personal mortgages, credit card bills, home constructions costs, lottery tickets, travel costs, and other personal expenses.