Fleeced Funds Reportedly Paid to Casino

While extracting hundreds of thousands of dollars from an elderly San Antonio couple last year, financial adviser Jeremy McGilvrey allegedly used their money to pay Las Vegas casino debts and huge personal credit card bills and to buy a Mercedes.

McGilvrey, 32, who remains in Bexar County Jail in lieu of posting $500,000 bail, also apparently used the funds invested by Thomas and Dorothy Crouch to open large brokerage accounts in his own name, according to the Texas State Securities Board.

“We see a lot of cases, but this one appears to be particularly egregious because of the age of the victims, the amount of money involved and the uses to which the money was apparently put,” said Benette Zivley, director of inspections and compliance for the securities agency.

Thomas Crouch, 94, who has Alzheimer's disease and dementia, and his wife, Dorothy, 89, who suffers from paranoia and depression, had conservatively invested assets of about $6.7 million before they crossed paths with McGilvrey in 2008.

Thomas Crouch is a retired general and former commander of Wilford Hall Medical Center.

Both now are legally incapacitated and have a court-appointed guardian.

But according to a lawsuit filed in Bexar County Probate Court, they were helpless against McGilvrey and two others, losing about $2 million after being steered into dubious investments, including stock purchases in McGilvrey's company and giving him a huge loan.

McGilvrey's investment strategy for the elderly pair was to “charge them exorbitant fees; plunder their monetary assets; convert their money for the defendant's use; and place those assets in investments that would earn the most money for the defendants and without regard to the risks to the plaintiffs,” according to the suit.

“I hope they end up in the penitentiary and I want these guys to have really rude roommates,” said James Crouch, their son and court-appointed guardian.

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Fleeced Funds Reportedly Paid to Casino