A former Fidelity Investments broker from St. Augustine was sentenced on Thursday to six years and eight months in federal prison for defrauding a 75-year-old client of more than $2 million, draining her savings through more than 600 separate transactions over three years. U.S. District Judge Jordan E. Pratt also ordered Eric James Stone, 43, to pay $2,037,103 in restitution to his victim.
According to the Department of Justice, Stone pleaded guilty in March to charges stemming from a scheme that began while he was still working as the woman's registered financial advisor. Stone spent 13 years as a broker at Fidelity Investments in Jacksonville before he was terminated on June 3, 2021, for soliciting and obtaining personal loans from clients, a violation of industry rules, according to records from FINRA BrokerCheck. He kept exploiting his relationship with the victim for years after losing his job.
A $30,000 Loan That Snowballed Into a $2 Million Scheme
Court documents cited by Jonathan W. Evans & Associates describe how Stone's fraud started small: he initially asked the 75-year-old client for a $30,000 personal loan. From there, the scheme metastasized into 613 separate financial transactions over three years, with Stone convincing the woman that her initial transfers had triggered legal and banking investigations requiring additional fee payments. To keep the ruse going, he created fake email accounts posing as PayPal employees, state investigators, and attorneys to pressure her into sending more money.
Federal prosecutors said Stone moved the stolen funds through Zelle, PayPal, bank wires, and Bitcoin wallets, spending the bulk of the $2 million on foreign online gambling websites, cryptocurrency accounts, personal travel, and his own debts, per the Department of Justice. Stone was originally indicted on July 30, 2025, on 10 counts of wire and mail fraud and five counts of money laundering, exposing him to a maximum statutory sentence of up to 20 years per fraud count and 10 years per money laundering count.
Barred From the Industry Before Federal Charges Landed
Stone's professional unraveling started well before his indictment. In March 2023, FINRA permanently barred him from associating with any broker-dealer after he refused to cooperate with an administrative investigation into his client loan activities, according to the Securities Lawyer. FINRA Rule 8210 requires securities professionals to produce requested documents and testimony, and Stone's noncooperation triggered the permanent bar.
Separately, a FINRA arbitration claim seeking $2.7 million in damages was filed in December 2024 against Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC by a customer alleging Stone failed to repay solicited loans, according to Rex Securities Law. That filing notes an earlier 2023 client dispute against Stone was settled for $38,400, raising open questions about how much supervisory responsibility Fidelity bore for his conduct.
Federal Agencies and Local Sheriff's Office Involved
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Cannizzaro, with forfeiture proceedings handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Clint J. Locke, following a joint investigation by IRS Criminal Investigation and FBI Jacksonville. USAO Middle Florida, the office that announced the sentencing, also credited the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office with providing local law enforcement support during the investigation.
Hoodline previously reported on Stone's original indictment in July 2025, and the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office has hosted local events aimed at curbing elder fraud in Ponte Vedra Beach. Stone's sentencing arrives amid a wave of similar Florida prosecutions, including a Martin County elder fraud arrest and an Orlando-based federal mail-fraud case targeting seniors that were both reported in recent weeks.
Part of a Statewide and National Surge in Elder Fraud
Stone's case reflects a broader pattern of escalating elder financial exploitation across Florida. The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center's 2025 Elder Fraud Report found Florida ranked second nationally for elder financial exploitation, with 17,147 victims aged 60 and older reporting $709.8 million in losses — an 83% surge in financial losses from 2024, according to a report compiled by Florida senior advocacy resource HCS of Florida. Investment fraud was the costliest category of senior financial crime statewide in 2025.
Nationally, elder fraud losses reached $7.75 billion across 201,266 complaints filed with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center in 2025, representing a 59% increase in monetary losses year-over-year, with average victim losses reaching $38,500, according to HousingWire. More than 12,400 senior complainants nationwide lost over $100,000 each in 2025, underscoring how cases like Stone's are increasingly common rather than isolated incidents.
