An Edina financial adviser has admitted to wire fraud, copping to a scheme where she swindled a cool $1.6 million from her trusting clients. Kristi Margaret Berge, the head honcho of Keep Safe Investments, LLC, pulled the wool over her customers' eyes, promising to put their dough into solid retirement accounts, but instead, funneling it into her pocket, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Minnesota.
On the hook for serious financial deception, Berge pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in federal court, confessing to her high-dollar hustling that went on from June 2020 through February 2023; during this time Berge duped her clients believing their investments were locked down in IRAs and 401(k)s, but she was busy skimming from the top, pulling out anywhere from $5,000 to $220,000 a pop and sinking it into real estate ventures around Edina. The FBI got wind of the act, trailing the breadcrumbs back to Berge's bank accounts where she stashed the stolen loot meant for her client's golden years.
According to the Attorney's Office, District of Minnesota, Berge tried to throw off the scent by marking the illicit withdrawals as "management" or "administrative" fees and even whipped up fake paperwork to make it seem all above board. The 47-year-old adviser, who was also a bigwig at J&K Connect LLC, was nabbed with her fingers in the client cash jar, leading to her day of reckoning before Judge Eric C. Tostrud.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew S. Ebert, Harry M. Jacobs, and Craig Baune are the ones putting the screws to Berge's case; Berge's admission puts a pin in the FBI's investigation, which pulled back the curtain on the twisted financial plot and in the end, Berge, already licensed with Minnesota and registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, has now earned herself a likely spot behind bars after her day in court.
