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Former financial adviser avoids trial with ‘no contest’ plea to 100+ felonies

DAYTON — A former financial adviser accused of fraud pleaded no contest Tuesday to over 100 felony charges against him, according to records.

John Schmidt, 68, was charged with 123 counts of forgery, two counts of theft from elderly/disabled adult and two other fraud charges.

Schmidt faced criminal charges after a December indictment related to alleged securities fraud in his work as a Dayton-area financial adviser.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Schmidt in federal court last year, and in that civil case, U.S. District Judge Walter Rice ordered Schmidt earlier this year to pay more than $1.1 million.

The SEC charged Schmidt with moving money from customers’ accounts to cover shortfalls or losses in other customers’ accounts.

The SEC and county prosecutors have said many of Schmidt’s alleged victims were older, some of them suffering from dementia. In its original complaint last year, the SEC charged Schmidt with continuing to defraud a client even after he died.

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“There’s no question, he took advantage of my one brother, who has dementia,” Mike Gantt, a former client of Schmidt, said. “My other brother … has Alzheimer’s (disease). My whole family, it affected my family.”

Sentencing for Schmidt is scheduled for sentencing on May 28.

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