A former LPL Financial broker has been sentenced to six years in prison for stealing over $1 million from an elderly female client over nine years, a prosecutor recently announced.
Bradley Goodbred, 57, was sentenced on July 22 to incarceration with the Illinois Department of Corrections, Kendall County State’s Attorney Eric Weis said. Goodbred was booked into a county jail that day, according to online records.
The former advisor, who had been registered as a broker with LPL for roughly 11 years (2009-2021), pleaded guilty in April to financial exploitation of an elderly person, a class 1 felony, said Weis in an announcement posted Friday on Facebook. Goodbred was arrested in 2022.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint against Goodbred about three years ago and said the elderly client had dementia.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority barred Goodbred in 2021, according to his BrokerCheck record. LPL dismissed him in 2021 for utilizing "unapproved power of attorney to facilitate distribution of customer funds to a real estate company representative owned and operated," his BrokerCheck record states.
LPL dismissed him in 2021 because Goodbred "utilized [an] unapproved power of attorney to facilitate distribution of customer funds to a real estate company [that he the] representative owned and operated," his BrokerCheck record states.
In January 2021, the court-appointed guardian for the victim, who was born in 1924, reported to the Yorkville Police Department that Goodbred had been taking advantage of the woman over a period of time, according to Weis.
During the investigation, the Yorkville Police Department learned that Goodbred had been a financial planner and advisor to the victim when he was working at LPL Financial, Weis said. In June 2010, a document was signed appointing Goodbred as the victim’s power of attorney, according to Weis’ office.
Goodbred had an additional business interest and persuaded the victim to “invest” in it, the recent press release says. Through his employment as the victim’s financial advisor, Goodbred approved the request for monies to be withdrawn from her trust account, which were then placed into the victim’s checking account, it notes.
From there, checks would be written to Goodbred’s company and then Goodbred would transfer those funds to his own personal account, according to the prosecutor, who said none of the money transferred from the client’s account was used for her benefit.
From May 31, 2019, to Feb. 10, 2020, Goodbred stole nearly $340,000, according to Weis, who said officers discovered Goodbred had stolen just over $1 million going back to 2011.
Goodbred repaid some funds and the client recovered the remaining losses through a settlement with LPL, according to information from the SEC on BrokerCheck.
When handing down the six-year sentence, the judge remarked that probation would diminish the seriousness of the offense and that Goodbred had been “grooming” the elder victim and had “preyed” on her, according to the prosecutor.
Goodbred ‘s sentence will require him to serve a year of mandatory supervised release, formerly known as parole.
“The elderly can, at times, be one of the most vulnerable segments of society as they can feel helpless and ashamed in these types of crimes. Without the commitment of all agencies involved to the protection of the public, the victim of this crime would not have seen justice,” Weis said.
The sentence “sends a message that this type of conduct will not be tolerated in Kendall County,” he added.
LPL didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday afternoon.
(Pictured: Bradley A. Goodbred, courtesy of the Kendall County Sheriff's Office)
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