****BAD BOY BROKER NEWS****
Investment broker admits swindling customers of $7M
Sunday, February 7, 1999
By LESLIE MILLER
The Associated Press
BOSTON -- An investment broker accused of swindling customers might have avoided charges if not for one, little lie.
Arthur Good told investigators that clients who complained about him were such good friends, they attended his mother's funeral. But when a quick check on the attendance revealed it wasn't true, federal authorities launched an all-out investigation.
On Friday, Good, wearing a gray pinstriped suit, polished wingtips, and a gold signet ring on his little finger, pleaded guilty in federal court to 43 counts of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering.
"He defrauded the young, he defrauded the old, he defrauded the rich, he defrauded the poor," prosecutor Stephen Huggard said. "Arthur Good has ruined an awful lot of people's lives."
Prosecutors said the 51-year-old investment broker and his partners swindled $7 million from at least 100 victims by telling and retelling the same tale.
He said he had met Bill Marriott, heir to the Marriott hotel fortune, on a plane. He claimed Marriott had taken a shine to him and offered him an investment opportunity for which he needed $3.5 million in cash.
Good, a tall, impressive-looking man, told investors they could double or triple their money in six months at absolutely no risk.
Good and his still-unidentified partners were actually paying off early investors with money from later investors.
"He was ripping off money, is all it was," Huggard said.
One investor asked Good to introduce him to Marriott to ensure his investment would be safe. Good had a friend impersonate Marriott at a meeting held in a fancy restaurant in New York.
Good spent the money on a home in an exclusive neighborhood in the Boston suburb of Quincy, as well as jewelry, office improvements, charitable donations and seven cars, including three 1998 BMWs.
Those assets have been seized, but it is unlikely Good's victims will get anything more than pennies on the dollar, said U.S. Attorney Donald K. Stern.
Prosecutors are asking he get six to eight years in prison at sentencing in March.
Good was an unusually crafty con man, said Matthew Nestor, chief of enforcement for the Massachusetts Securities Division.
"This guy presents a great image, he has the appearance of being trustworthy and honest and an upright citizen," Nestor said. "You can see how this could happen."
Copyright © 1999 Bergen Record Corp.
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