Pittsburgh Financial Adviser Pleads Guilty to Impersonating a Labor Department Employee to Steal Retirement-Plan Business
Pittsburgh, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, saw a federal impersonation case resolved on November 2: a local licensed financial adviser and loan officer pleaded guilty in federal court to posing as a U.S. Department of Labor employee, using retirement-plan reviews to persuade businesses to fire their existing advisers and transfer their plans to him.
The defendant, Lazaven Mitchell, 38, of Pittsburgh, pleaded guilty before Senior United States District Judge David Stewart Cercone to one count of false impersonation of a federal officer or employee. United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced the plea on November 2.
In connection with the guilty plea, the court was advised that on multiple occasions between April 2024 and June 2024, Mitchell presented himself to local businesses as working for the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). He would contact Pittsburgh businesses, identify himself as working for EBSA, and request to review the businesses' retirement plans to determine whether they were in compliance with the authorities governing retirement plans.
After reviewing a retirement plan, Mitchell would identify a compliance issue and then recommend that the business terminate its current adviser and transfer the plan to him to serve as the plan administrator, including providing the business owner with a draft letter for their signature that would terminate the old plan adviser. To effectuate this, he sent businesses letters bearing the Department of Labor seal and EBSA's mailing address in Washington, D.C.
In text messages with one business owner, Mitchell referenced having 'a final determination from the DOL' and coming to the business to retrieve 'the documents for the Department of Labor inquiry.' In a text to a different business owner, he sent a fictitious business card bearing EBSA's name and crest, his name with the title 'Employee Benefit Advisor,' and an address for a suite within the William S. Moorhead Federal Building.
Judge Cercone scheduled sentencing for March 25, 2027. The law provides for a total maximum sentence of up to three years in prison, a fine of up to the greater of $250,000 or twice the gross pecuniary gain to Mitchell, or both. Under the federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed is based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Brendan J. McKenna is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government.
(Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Pittsburgh 的 Joseph F. Weis Jr. 联邦法院大楼（宾州西区联邦地区法院所在地）。Nyttend 摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Joseph F. Weis Jr. U.S. Courthouse in Pittsburgh, home of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Photo by Nyttend, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
