A former financial advisor was sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison Friday for ripping off 20 clients for about $8.1 million.
Li Lin Hsu, 42, of Diamond Bar, was sentenced to 136 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $5.2 million in restitution. Hsu pleaded guilty in February of last year to wire fraud.
Hsu roped in her victims with a promise of investing their money safely between February 2014 through May 2018, according to federal prosecutors, who said she lulled them into a false sense of security because she spoke to her clients of Chinese descent in their native tongue. Some of her victims were her relatives, prosecutors said.
Hsu, a former Ameriprise financial advisor, pocketed the money instead of investing it, spending it on the purchase of homes in Diamond Bar and Irvine, a Tesla car, a vacation in Paris and other personal goods, prosecutors said.
Later, the scam evolved into a Ponzi scheme in which she would use money from some investors to make payments to other clients, prosecutors said.
Amerirprise fired Hsu in 2015 when her bosses learned of the scams.
Hsu has paid back some of the stolen money through the liquidation of her assets, her attorney, Kate Corrigan, said.
“She’s made a commitment to herself and to the victims in the case to right the wrongs she has committed,” Corrigan said. “She has recognized and taken accountability for her actions and she has great regret of what she’s done to the victims in this case.”