A St. John’s investment advisor found to have defrauded six elderly clients of almost $800,000 has now pleaded guilty to one of the criminal charges against her.
Fifty-four-year-old Joan McCarthy was with the St. John’s branch of MD Management, which caters to financial planning for doctors, when she re-directed client deposits to herself between 2006 and 2019.
A month ago she was fined more than a million dollars by the federal regulator, and permanently banned from ever doing business in the industry again.
This morning, her lawyer entered a single guilty plea to one charge of fraud over $5,000, and suggested there may be more guilty pleas to come.
McCarthy is facing 24 charges in total; six each of fraud over $5,000, as well as forgery, uttering forged documents and possessing property obtained by crime.
The case returns to court on May 18th for pre-sentence submissions.