Former Investment Advisor Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Elderly Exploitation

Former financial advisor Mathew Muratori, of Clearwater, was sentenced to 20 years in prison to be followed by 10 years of probation for his conviction on charges of grand theft, identity theft, and scheme to defraud.

Muratori embezzled more than $152,000 of an elderly client’s funds using fraudulent Venmo and CashApp accounts. The victim, who is of diminished capacity, was persuaded to transfer his investment accounts to Muratori’s firm, Pruco Investments. A review of financial records revealed a fake email account was created by Muratori and then used to open Cash App and Venmo accounts in the victim’s name. Muratori also obtained a debit card for the investment accounts, which was used to facilitate transfers from the fraudulent accounts to his own P2P and personal checking accounts. He also impersonated the victim on calls to financial institutions and created a web banking profile for the victim’s account to further facilitate the fraudulent transactions.

The OFR was the sole investigative agency in this criminal enforcement action. The Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution prosecuted the case.