Minnesota Financial Advisor Admits to Stealing Massive Amount of Client Funds

St. Paul, MN (KROC-AM News)- A Minnesota financial advisor has admitted to stealing a large amount of money from her clients. 

That’s according to a news release issued Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota. She entered a guilty plea in the case on Thursday. 

Federal court documents accuse 47-year-old Kristi Margaret Berge of misappropriating client investment funds from June of 2020 through February of 2023. She was the founder and CEO of an Edina-based investment and financial services firm known as Keep Safe Investments. 

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Berge is also listed as the co-owner of J&K Connect LLC, which is a real estate company that would buy, upgrade then flip residential properties for a profit. 

Read More: Guilty Plea Ends $30 Million Fraud Trial in Minnesota Courtroom

Court documents say Berge’s clients were under the impression that she would keep their investment funds in individual retirement accounts, 401K retirement plans and other safe investment accounts. 

Instead she would withdraw their money in amounts that varied between $5,000 and $220,000 and deposit those funds in bank accounts she controlled. 

Berge would then use the client funds to buy properties in Edina for her real estate business. She would conceal the withdrawals by fraudulently labeling them as "management” or “administrative” and by creating fake records that indicated she had authorization to withdraw her clients investment funds, the news release says. 

In all Berge is accused of stealing $1.6 million in funds from her clients. 

She pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Her sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.

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