Financial advisor pleads guilty to defrauding clients

WHITE PLAINS – A 47-year-old Rye man pled guilty in Westchester County Court to scheme to defraud in the first degree.
Over a 6 ½ year period, Mark Henningsen, a financial advisor, “advised” his clients to invest in his company, Benefit Partners LLC.

They “invested” in what they thought was an insurance benefits and financial services coordinator services company with existing contracts to supply insurance products to area hospitals.

Henningsen also represented to some investors that they were to get a guaranteed nine percent return on their investment. He told others the company was forth nearly $5 million.

He stole some $580,000 from his victims.
Henningsen faces one to three years in state prison when sentenced in May.