A Philadelphia bar owner and former investment adviser pleaded guilty Tuesday to defrauding clients of more than $400,000 and used the proceeds to purchase an establishment on South Street.

William Joseph Boyle, 53, of Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery County, pleaded guilty to five counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud, one count of securities fraud, and one count of investment adviser fraud, announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger.



In his guilty plea, Boyle admitted to defrauding mostly elderly clients out of hundreds of thousands of dollars after convincing them to invest with him by portraying himself as an investment adviser and promising to invest their money in stocks, Pennsylvania municipal bonds, interest bearing investments, and real estate, authorities said.

Instead, Boyle spent nearly all that money from clients on himself, his wife and ex-wife, and paying his children’s Catholic school tuition. Boyle also purchased and renovated – and obtained a liquor license for – The Blarney South Bar and Grille at 328 South St., which he renamed The Boyler Room, prosecutors said.

Boyle continued to scam victims as a stockbroker and investment adviser even after his licenses were suspended and after he was permanently barred from working as a stockbroker, prosecutors said.



Boyle, who will be sentenced on Nov. 30, 2016, faces a maximum sentence of 185 years’ imprisonment, a five-year period of supervised release, a $7 million fine, and a $1,000 special assessment, and a likely advisory sentencing guideline range of 41 to 51 months of imprisonment.

The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael S. Lowe.