Oct 5, 2007 11:42 am US/Eastern
Broker Charged With Stealing From 9/11 Widow
NEW YORK (AP) ―
A former stockbroker is being accused of swindling a 9/11 victim's widow out of $250,000 from a federal compensation fund.
The U-S Attorney's office says 28-year-old Kevin Dunn of Colonia, New Jersey, pleaded not guilty in a federal court in Brooklyn yesterday to mail and wire fraud charges.
Dunn's lawyer, Mario Gallucci, said there was "a lot more to the case" than prosecutors' version of it. Dunn, who formerly worked for MetLife, was a longtime friend of the widow, Jaime Amoroso. Prosecutors say her husband, Christopher, a 29-year-old police officer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, was killed while responding to the 2001 attacks.
His widow approached Dunn about investing the $2 million she received from the federal fund for 9/11 victims, eventually setting up a $1.25 million brokerage account and a $750,000 annuity account with his firm.
Prosecutors say Dunn went on to steal $250,000 of her money through schemes that included telling her there was a paperwork problem with her brokerage account, and she needed to send him checks to redeposit.
Dunn's lawyer said Amoroso may have consented to some of the money transfers Dunn is accused of making to himself. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
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