Financial advisor sentenced to over 10 years after embezzling nearly $1M

Tom Fallon, 65, was sentenced in the Long Beach Superior Court after being convicted in an open plea of 25 criminal counts of money laundering and grand theft in May 2019. Fallon was sentenced to 10 years and four months in state prison. Restitution was ordered in the amount of $995,118.

A total of 10 families suffered as a result of Fallon’s actions, and restitution has been ordered for all victims.

A year-long investigation by the California Department of Insurance found that Fallon convinced his victims to deposit their workers’ compensation settlement checks into Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set Aside Accounts (WCMSA), as required by law. However, Fallon convinced his victims to deposit their settlement funds with companies he owns in order to embezzle $995,118 for his personal gain and to fund various other businesses.

Related: Real or fake? Revealing workers’ compensation fraud

Justice is served

Fallon worked in the same office as the victims’ attorney and urged victims to deposit their funds in a WCMSA with his companies, Fortis Financial Insurance Services Inc. and Legacy Group Financial. Evidence obtained by investigators revealed that victims’ funds were deposited into Fortis Financial and Legacy Group Financial, and no WCMSA accounts were ever established.

“Fallon abused his clients’ trust in order to access their money and then stole it to stuff his own pockets,” Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said in a statement. “Fallon’s callous actions ruined lives. Thanks to the hard work of investigators at the Department of Insurance and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, his victims have justice.”

Fallon’s license was suspended the day of his arrest, July 9, 2017. He was sentenced on July 18, 2019.

Related: Two Chicago women plead guilty to $1.7 million workers’ comp fraud