Eric Rasmussen

A California advisor who grabbed headlines for trying to evade arrest by escaping on an underwater sea scooter across Lake Shasta has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for running a $35 million Ponzi-like investment fraud scheme. Matthew Piercey, 49, of Palo Cedro, Calif., pled guilty to the crime, as well as money laundering and witness tampering, and was also ordered to pay $25.5 million in restitution to victims.

An unregistered financial advisor in Pittsburgh has been sentenced to more than two years of prison and ordered to pay $4.2 million in restitution for stealing millions of dollars from the family trust of a late mathematics professor. Thomas R. Pipich Jr., 74, committed the crime to hide another client’s losses, robbing Peter to pay Paul, according to prosecutors.

Accelerated Wealth Partners, the investment firm launched in March by former Focus Financial executive Eric Amar, has purchased a minority stake in Brooklyn FI, a New York city advisory firm that started out as a boutique for artist clients but soon turned into a specialty firm handling difficult equity compensation issues for tech employees. The firm, which launched in 2018, works with 500 client households.