A Newton psychologist has agreed to plead guilty to stealing a total of more than $900,000 from two people — one of whom was a client — and using it to pay somebody who was scamming him.During his initial appearance on Friday, Sept. 26, in U.S. District Court in Boston, Eric Brown, 76, agreed to plead guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of an unlawful money transaction.As part of the agreement, prosecutors agreed to request a sentence of 27 months in federal prison and ...
A Newton psychologist has agreed to plead guilty to stealing a total of more than $900,000 from two people — one of whom was a client — and using it to pay somebody who was scamming him.
During his initial appearance on Friday, Sept. 26, in U.S. District Court in Boston, Eric Brown, 76, agreed to plead guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of an unlawful money transaction.
As part of the agreement, prosecutors agreed to request a sentence of 27 months in federal prison and restitution of $910,000. Brown faced as much as 20 years in prison as well as a $500,000 fine, as well as restitution.
According to federal authorities, Brown is a psychotherapist who worked with a client who was injured by an alleged drunk driver in a crash. In February 2022, the victim asked Brown to serve as administrator of the trust that benefited the victim. The trust held almost $700,000. According to federal authorities, Brown had complete control of the trust.
Separately, according to authorities, Brown fell victim to an online scam in which somebody named “Amy” pretended to be in an online relationship with him. The scammer convinced Brown to invest in precious metals by using cryptocurrency and making wire transfers to her to invest on his behalf. He used $600,000 of the victim’s money to invest in the overseas market, as directed by the scammer, according to the federal affidavit.
After that money was gone, Brown asked a family member to lend him $310,000, telling them he had to finance improvements on an office building he owned, according to federal authorities. Instead, he used the money for more overseas investments at the direction of the scammer.
Brown also spent more than $300,000 of his own money toward the fake investments, according to the federal affidavit.
A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.
Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or [email protected]. For up-to-date public safety news, follow him on X @Norman_MillerMW or on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerJournalist.