Former Financial Broker Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Wire Fraud

United States Attorney James L. Santelle announced that Lisa A. Lewis (age: 49) of Green Bay, Wisconsin, was sentenced in federal court in Green Bay for wire fraud. Chief United States District Judge William C. Griesbach sentenced Lewis to a fifteen-year term of imprisonment and ordered her to pay in excess of $2 million in restitution to approximately thirteen elderly investors. Judge Griesbach also placed Lewis on supervised release for three years and ordered the forfeiture of a 2013 Chevrolet Camaro and Lewis’ interest in several residences to partially offset the restitution amount.

Lewis, a former financial broker, was sentenced following her earlier guilty plea to the charge of wire fraud, as part of a larger scheme, occurring over the course of approximately seven years, to defraud the investors. Generally, the scheme involved Lewis creating a joint account under her name and that of the victim-most often unbeknownst to the victim.  Without authorization, Lewis then transferred funds from the victim’s individual account, to the joint account, and then to one of Lewis’ personal accounts where she used the funds for personal expenses unrelated to the victim’s financial interest. Such unauthorized expenditures included the purchase of the Camaro, and use of investor funds to gamble at local casinos and pay personal expenses. As stated by many of the investors through their victim-impact statements, Lewis not only stole from their hard earned retirement accounts, but she did so after befriending the investors and ingratiating herself to them. 

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Brown County Sheriff’s Department.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney William Roach.