An Oxford financial advisor whose doctor says is dying from cancer faces 100 years behind bars after pleading guilty to bilking investors out of more than $800,000.
Robert E. Lee Jr., 50, pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud Dec. 17 before Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer at U.S. District Court in Bridgeport.
Judge Meyer scheduled Lee’s sentencing for March 11, at which time he will face up to 20 years in prison on each count.
In addition, the government wants to seize $358,077.17 Lee held in an online trading account at the time of his arrest in the case in May.
A federal grand jury indicted Lee about five months after his arrest after an FBI agent specializing in white collar crime detailed the Ponzi scheme.
According to court documents, Lee would take money from clients, lie to them about investing it, and simply deposit the money into his personal bank account.
If a client wanted a payout on an investment, Lee would use another client’s “investment” money to pay the first client.
The scheme went on from at least 2011 to 2014, the FBI alleged.
Click here for more background on the case.
As part of the plot, Lee concocted phony financial statements and other documents he gave to his victims, the feds say.
In a telephone conversation between a witness and Lee that the FBI recorded secretly, Lee said that he “did what he did” because of financial problems — his house was in foreclosure, and he owed back taxes.
“I never kept a dime,” Lee allegedly said, adding later in the conversation that at some point, “it just got out of hand.”
Prognosis ‘Poor’
Before last month’s plea, jury selection had been scheduled to begin in the case next month, over the objections of Lee’s lawyer, Michael Hillis, who asked a judge to delay the proceeding because Lee is being treated for cancer.
Lee’s treatment “causes extreme fatigue which renders him unable to promptly assist Counsel in his defense,” Hillis wrote in a motion last month.
Hillis attached an undated letter from Dr. Joseph Eder, an oncologist at the Smilow Cancer Center at Yale-New Haven Hospital, which said Lee is suffering from synovial sarcoma
“The prognosis with his cancer for longevity is poor and previous treatments … have been unsuccessful,” Eder wrote, saying he is “aggressively seeking an appropriate (clinical) trial for his condition.”
Eder’s letter also said Lee had spent a week in an intensive care unit due to side effects from chemotheraphy and requires opiates to control his pain.
“In my judgment, I do not feel Robert would be able to handle depositions or court proceedings with his full faculties at this time,” the doctor wrote.
Article continues after document.
Objection
But federal prosecutors objected to Hillis’ request, noting that though Lee is in poor health, “there is no indication … that he is unable to understand the nature of the charges against him” or otherwise assist Hillis in his defense.
Continuing the case would “undermine” the interests of justice, the feds argued.
“As the defendant’s letter points out … his prognosis ‘for longevity is poor,’” federal prosecutors wrote. “With no record indication that his health will improve with his current treatment, any continuance would only make the prospects of his trial less likely, not more.”
The feds also submitted a letter to the judge — from one of Lee’s victims — objecting to “any type of delay (or) continuance” because of Lee’s condition.
The letter is posted below in its entirety.
The person, from Sandy Hook, said that in addition to losing money he or she invested with Lee, so did their mother, 78, and father, 83, who live in Trumbull.
“Mr. Lee has destroyed the lives of my parents,” the victim wrote, saying Lee left the couple “without a penny from 20 years of investing with him.”
“My situation is not much better as he stole all my funds as well as that of my wife’s/father-in-law’s money also,” the victim wrote. “Mr. Lee deserves NOTHING but a trial and I am pleading that you proceed as soon as possible so we get our day in court against him. If he is asking for a continuance due to health reasons you should move forward with expediency versus giving him more time to stall your progress.”
Four days after the victim’s letter was filed in court, Judge Meyer denied Lee’s request for a continuance.
The Valley Indy left a message with Hillis last month.
Lee is free after posting $250,000 bond in the case.
