Operator of KJM Financial (Bedminster, NJ) pleads guilty to $9.7 million Ponzi scheme
NJTODAY.NEWS reported on 2 November 2026, citing a U.S. Attorney's Office release, that KJM Financial operator Paul Beers pleaded guilty to wire fraud over a Ponzi scheme that cost at least 65 investors over $9.7 million. Sentencing is set for 9 March 2027.
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Source: njtoday.news · published
What happened
NJTODAY.NEWS reported on 2 November 2026, based on a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey, that Paul Beers, 67, a former college and financial planner from Clinton, pleaded guilty on 29 October to a one-count information charging him with wire fraud, before U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch in federal court in Trenton. Prosecutors say he ran a Ponzi scheme for more than a decade that left at least 65 investors with losses topping $9.7 million. He has pleaded guilty but has not yet been sentenced. Sentencing is scheduled for 9 March 2027.
How the scam works
According to court documents and statements made in court, Beers owned and operated KJM Financial in Bedminster from about January 2015 through November 2025. The business offered college planning and consulting and financial planning services. Prosecutors say he took in more than $11 million from at least 65 people who were promised their money would be placed in various financial accounts, including guaranteed income contracts. Instead, he diverted the money to pay his own business and personal expenses and to repay some investors, which kept the scheme going and helped him avoid detection.
At times, he gave investors phony quarterly and other reports showing gains on the money they had entrusted to him, prosecutors said. The scheme collapsed in November 2025. The U.S. Attorney said the defendant “turned a position of trust into an instrument of fraud” and used false quarterly reports to conceal the scheme. The wire fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross loss to the victims or the gain to the defendant, whichever is greatest. The plea agreement requires him to pay restitution.
The FBI's Newark office investigated the case, with help from the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office and the Bedminster Township Police Department. The FBI investigation is ongoing, and anyone who believes they may be a victim can report it to NK-Victim-Assistance@FBI.GOV. The case shows how false account statements can hide a Ponzi scheme for years, and why investors should confirm holdings directly with the firm that holds the money.
Source
NJTODAY.NEWS, “Clinton man pleads guilty in $9.7 million Ponzi scheme that hit 65 investors”, 2 November 2026, based on a U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey release.
Red flags
- An adviser who took money to place in accounts such as guaranteed income contracts.
- Investors' money used for the adviser's own expenses and to repay earlier investors.
- Phony quarterly reports showing gains on money that was not invested as described.
- A scheme that ran for about ten years inside a trusted college and financial planning business.
- Account statements that investors could not check directly with the institution holding the money.
If you were targeted
- 1Confirm holdings directly with the bank, insurer or custodian named, not only through the adviser's reports.
- 2Be wary when an adviser takes money into their own business account instead of a named custodian.
- 3Check an adviser's registration and history through FINRA BrokerCheck or the SEC's adviser search.
- 4If you invested with KJM Financial, you can report it to NK-Victim-Assistance@FBI.GOV.
- 5Report suspected investment fraud to your state securities regulator or the FBI.