A 67-year-old Clinton man who ran a college planning and financial advisory firm out of Bedminster admitted in federal court this week that he spent more than a decade bilking clients out of their savings through a Ponzi scheme that cost at least 65 investors more than $9.7 million combined. Paul Beers pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud before a U.S. district judge in Trenton on Thursday, October 29.
Federal prosecutors say Beers operated KJM Financial, a college consulting and financial planning business based in Bedminster, and fraudulently collected more than $11 million from investors by promising to place their money into financial accounts, including guaranteed income contracts, according to nj.com. Instead of investing the money as promised, Beers misappropriated it to cover his own personal and business expenses and used funds from newer investors to pay off earlier ones, according to WRNJ Radio.
To keep the scheme running, Beers generated fraudulent account statements and quarterly reports that showed investment gains that never actually existed, prosecutors say. The fabricated paperwork, the station reports, was designed specifically to conceal the fraud from the people whose money he was spending.
A Couple's $948,000 Vanishes
One case detailed by prosecutors shows how the deception played out for ordinary investors. A New Jersey couple entrusted Beers with approximately $948,000 earmarked for their retirement and their children's college expenses back in June 2022, according to News12 New York. When the scheme unraveled in November 2025, an insurance company was unable to locate the couple's accounts at all.
Beers ultimately returned just $9,000 to that couple, per the same outlet's account, a fraction of the nearly $1 million they had handed over for their family's future. Investors overall lost more than $9.7 million combined once the scheme collapsed, authorities say.
Conflicting Timelines on How Long the Firm Operated
Court-related reporting states that Beers owned and operated KJM Financial in Bedminster from 2015 to 2025, per nj.com's account. However, a FINRA BrokerCheck report for Beers, who is listed under CRD number 1928992, shows KJM Financial's college planning activities beginning in August 2010 and continuing to the present. The discrepancy between the two timelines has not been resolved. The same BrokerCheck filing shows Beers is not currently registered as a broker, and lists a prior stint with LifeMark Securities Corp. in Bedminster from October 2018 through December 2020.
Sentencing Set for March, Restitution Required
The wire fraud count to which Beers pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison, along with a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross financial loss to victims or gain to the defendant, whichever is greater, WRNJ Radio reports. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Beers is also required to pay restitution to his victims.
Beers is scheduled to be sentenced on March 9, 2027. For the dozens of investors who trusted him with their retirement and college savings, that date will mark the next step in a case that, for now, leaves the full scope of what they will recover still unknown.
