Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Northern District of Georgia

---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Investment Advisor Pleads Guilty to Stealing from Clients

ATLANTA - Robert A. Gist, who defrauded investors by lying about their investments, has pleaded guilty to a charge of mail fraud.  The defendant used investors’ money to pay his personal expenses and to fund operations of a company in which he had a personal interest. 

“Firms that offer to manage investments for clients have an ethical and fiduciary responsibility to do what they promise,” said U.S. Attorney John Horn.  “Sadly, we see outliers like this who steal from their clients.  Investors must be careful to do their homework before trusting a financial services firm with their hard-earned money.” 

“The number of times we investigate cases like this is overwhelming and discouraging,” said FBI Atlanta Acting Special Agent in Charge George Crouch. “The heartless disregard for the victim’s hard-earned investments cannot be tolerated and we will continue to relentlessly pursue individuals like Mr. Gist.”

According to U.S. Attorney Horn, the charges and other information presented in court: Gist was a registered broker who controlled the investment firm, Gist, Kennedy & Associates, and had more than 30 clients who invested more than $5 million with him.  Gist obtained investment funds from his clients by misrepresenting that he would make certain conservative investments for them in corporate bonds and other securities.  Instead, he took the funds from his clients and used them for personal expenses, to fund the operations of ENCAP Technologies (an industrial coating company), and to pay other clients purported dividends and proceeds from the investments he falsely claimed to have made for those other clients.  Gist perpetrated the fraud by preparing and mailing false account statements to his clients that falsely showed the conservative investments and returns he was supposed to make but never did.  The victims lost all of their investments.

Sentencing for Robert A. Gist, 65, of Atlanta, Georgia, is scheduled for December 1, 2016, at 10:00 a.m., before U.S District Judge Eleanor L. Ross.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Considerable assistance was provided by the Atlanta office of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

Assistant United States Attorney Christopher J. Huber is prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office atUSAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov

Email links icon

 or (404) 581-6016.  The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.