A Rockland-based investment advisor was sentenced on Tuesday to six and a half years in federal prison and financial penalties topping $8.5 million for conspiring with her father to rip off more than a dozen clients out of millions of dollars.
U.S. District Court Judge Roman Nelson sentenced Vania May Bell on her May guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She admitted in court and on audio to helping Hector May steal more than $11 million from 15 clients through an elaborate Ponzi scheme.
In addition to the prison sentence, Roman ordered Bell to three years of supervised release, pay $8,041,233 in restitution, and forfeit $589,942. There’s no parole in the federal system, though inmates can earn time off for good behavior.
Sentence: Vania May Bell gets 80 months in federal prison
Ponzi scam: Vania May Bell pleads guilty to stealing millions with her imprisoned father
Bell, 57, of Montvale, New Jersey had worked as comptroller and chief compliance officer since 1993 for her father’s New City-based Executive Compensation Planners. May started the investment company in 1982. Bell faced up to 20 years and a maximum fine of $250,000.
In a release, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Damian Williams said the pair “pilfered the retirement savings of over 15 victims, including vulnerable aging couples, close friends, relatives, and an employment pension plan of a construction company.”
Hector May, once a prominent Rockland Republican activist, is serving…
