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An elderly New Jersey eye doctor claims her Wells Fargo financial advisor siphoned off more than $1.8 million from her investment accounts and then took another $900,000 to buy himself a luxury home, legal papers charge.
Dr. Kenette Sohmer, 77, is suing Kenneth Welsh in order to take possession of the five-bedroom house in River Edge in Bergen County.
Welsh handled Sohmer’s retirement accounts at Wells Fargo until he was fired in June.
He was arrested in October for allegedly ripping off five clients, including Sohmer, for a total of at least $2.8 million, transferring their money into his own accounts in order to gamble, buy gold coins or other luxury items, legal papers say.
He was charged with four counts of wire fraud and one count of investment advisor fraud, according to the US Attorney’s office in New Jersey. He also faces a separate suit from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Sohmer told The Post she met Welsh through her late father and she trusted him to make financial decisions with her money invested at Wells Fargo.
Unbeknownst to Sohmer, Welsh also tapped into her accounts at two other banks, taking out $898,000 on April 30, 2019, court papers say. The next day Welsh and his wife, Monica, paid $900,000 for the River Edge house.
Sohmer said she was “devastated” to learn of Welsh’s alleged theft in August 2021.
“I’m 77, I’ve been working for years. I will need this retirement income,” said Sohmer, who is divorced and has no children. She is still practicing in Branchburg, NJ.
On Monday, a New Jersey Superior Court judge awarded Sohmer $909,000 in damages for the house but not the property itself, which the doctor wants to sell.
Jay Sabin, Sohmer’s lawyer, said he will ask the court to reconsider and expedite the title transfer to the doctor.
Wells Fargo returned the money Welsh allegedly took, but Sohmer is seeking an award of at least $10 million through an arbitration process.
“If Wells Fargo had been doing its job and watching over its staff like it has a duty to do, it is extremely likely that they would have caught him before he started financially abusing Dr. Sohmer,” said Sabin, who is with Brach Eichler in Roseland, NJ.
A Wells Fargo spokeswoman said the company holds “our employees to the highest ethical standards. We notified regulators and law enforcement of this matter and the financial advisor was terminated.”
A lawyer for Welsh declined to comment.
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