Ex-financial advisers Adam and Daniel Kaplan, of Great Neck, face money laundering, fraud charges at upcoming trial

Twin brothers from Great Neck accused of using their positions as financial advisers to steal at least $5 million from clients are scheduled to go on trial in September in federal court in Central Islip after years of bouncing from one investment firm to another.

Former stockbrokers Daniel and Adam Kaplan, both 36, were charged in a 16-count indictment of conspiracy to commit wire fraud,  wire fr aud, investor fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Adam Kaplan faces additional charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and attempted obstruction of justice.

As the criminal investigation intensified, Adam Kaplan is accused of threatening violence against witnesses, texting a skull and crossbones to one of the alleged victims. In another instance,  Adam Kaplan allegedly tried to bribe a made-up investigator with a reported gambling problem who would get the charges against them dropped. Adam Kaplan allegedly stuffed thousands of dollars in cash in a box of chocolates as a payoff to the fake investigator.    

Prosecutors are building their case on a paper trail of emails, texts, bank and credit card records and trading receipts. They also plan to call alleged victims, former employers and what they are calling a secret cooperator to the witness stand.

The brothers pleaded not guilty and said they’ve done nothing wrong. The Kaplans' lawyer, Mark Cohen, was not available for comment, according to a spokesman.

Some of the alleged Kaplan clients — more than 50, according to the criminal charges — were elderly and disabled, some they met in high school, others during Harvard networking events, though prosecutors allege the brothers lied about their degrees from the prestigious university.

Securities and Exchange Commission scrutiny

Prosecutors said the brothers overcharged $540,000 on advisory fees alone, used client money for personal expenses, charged client credit cards and bank accounts without permission and filed fake records to cover up their alleged crimes. 

The brothers have been inseparable, going to the same high school and university, and registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission to become investment advisers. 

"The Kaplans are identical twins, who for much of their lives — in particular, their various financial services industry employments, as well as in many but not exactly all of the other prior legal disputes ... functioned essentially in tandem, as a non-separable ("two-for-the-price-of-one") pair, and have essentially continued to do so on an ongoing basis throughout their life," attorney Kevin Conway wrote in court papers after they sued him for misrepresenting them in a case against Morgan Stanley, their first employer.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said that beginning in 2016, the Kaplan brothers built their portfolio up to nearly 300 clients by 2021.

A year into their job at Morgan Stanley, they were suspended for forging the name of a client to open an account and other charges, according to court records.

Their parents hired Conway to defend them, but the relationship soured when the attorney refused their father’s recommendation that he file an ethics complaint against the brokerage house’s lawyer, according to a state lawsuit.

The Kaplans also refused to pay their legal fees, according to the attorney’s suit. They sued Conway for legal malpractice and lost. The attorney declined to comment.

Before the investigation was completed at Morgan Stanley, the brothers were hired by Merrill Lynch, where they were accused of “[c]onduct involving utilizing client logon credentials to access client accounts" and fired in March 2018, prosecutors said.

By June that year, the Kaplan brothers were hired again, this time at IHT Wealth Management, where prosecutors said that they told clients their fees were 1%, but they sometimes charged nearly 3%.

They were fired from IHT in July 2021, according to court records. An attorney for IHT declined to comment.

Former Trump attorney connection

The brothers hired attorney Todd Blanche, who represented President Donald Trump in his Manhattan criminal trial and was appointed to be the deputy U.S. attorney general, after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil fraud charges against them in 2023.

That relationship lasted 15 months before Blanche’s firm, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, dropped them as clients for nonpayment of nearly $1 million in legal fees, according to court records.

The Kaplans sued the firm and Blanche, claiming he had forged their signatures on legal retainer documents. They even hired a forensic handwriting analyst to certify that their names had been forged, according to court records. The firm and Blanche did not respond to requests for comment. That lawsuit is pending.

The Kaplans have also sued at least two of the victims referenced in the U.S. attorney’s criminal case for libel after they complained about the brother’s behavior to authorities.

The brothers and their family have a well-documented history of staying a step ahead of regulators and using lawsuits to  confront obstacles — even when they were just kids.

When the Kaplans failed to make good grades on their high school final exams at the private Ramaz School in Manhattan, their father sued the school. The court denied their request to change the grades. 

When the University of Rochester neglected to give the Kaplan brothers summa cum laude status on their diplomas, they sued again and won.

Additional charges

While under investigation and for nine months after he was indicted, Adam Kaplan paired up with a new partner, prosecutors charge, and allegedly defrauded more clients out of another $1 million.

In February, prosecutors unsealed a superseding indictment against him, accusing him of obstructing the investigation by conspiring with his new partner to intimidate victims, fabricate and destroy evidence and hatch a plan to get out of his criminal charges.

Adam Kaplan, who had moved to Miami Beach, Florida, told his new partner that his victims — nine members of a Nassau County family who had filed a lawsuit against the brothers — needed "to fear," prosecutor said.

"Yes. With one peeing blood / missing teeth and another visited / scared — should be easy," the brother texted.

He allegedly texted a skull and crossbones to a victim with the words "Stop asking questions."

Kaplan also worked with his new partner, who signed an agreement to become a cooperator for the government, to bribe a made-up federal investigator to make the charges go away.

Prosecutors say that the cooperator made up a federal investigator, "Chief Joseph," with a gambling problem who need extra money to get out of his debts.

"I hope and pray he’s in maximum debt! I just heard," the cooperator, who is expected to testify at trial, texted. "I’m picking up the paperwork tomorrow. He bet 1mm with fan duel and lost 200k. I’ve got feelers out to the boys to see how much he owes the bad boys. HERE WE GO."

At the cooperator’s prompting, Kaplan gave him thousands of dollars hidden in a box of chocolates to use as a bribe.

“[The cooperator] did not in fact pay 'Chief' because that person does not exist," investigators wrote in court papers.

Bail revoked

Kaplan’s defense lawyers say that their client was the victim of an unscrupulous person looking to scam him. The confidential witness has been convicted of multiple felonies in at least five states, attorneys for the Kaplans say. 

"It's clear that [the cooperator] took advantage of Mr. Kaplan; that he engaged in this scheme to defraud Mr. Kaplan," attorney Eric Creizman argued at a detention hearing, though he admitted that his client went along with the plan.

U.S. District Court Judge Joan Azrack revoked his bail and forced him to spend the months leading up to the trial in the Metropolitan Detention Center. Meanwhile, Daniel Kaplan has been out on bail waiting trial.

A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. Jury selection starts Sept. 8, and opening statements will begin on Sept. 22.