Financial Advisor Accused of Accessing Dead Client's Account

A long-time Kenmore financial advisor was arrested Monday on suspicion of a federal mail fraud charge, according to U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. 

According to Durkan's office, Edward H. Kahler, 64, is accused of liquidating the account of a deceased client without authorization, according to Durkan's office. He was stripped of his insurance producers license in 2012, her office wrote.

Kahler is the owner of Key Resources, a Kenmore, WA retirement consultation company which sells annuities and life insurance, her office reported.

Federal prosecutors say that Kahler used proprietary information from a company he worked for to access the account of a client who had died in 1984. Kahler sold annuities for the Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company from 1983 until he was fired in 2007, and federal prosecutors say that Kahler used company information to create profiles for former clients and liquidated their accounts. 

As late as Christmas Eve 2012, federal prosecutors say, Kahler used the $125,000 from the client who had died in 1984 to fund a trip to Las Vegas, the payment on a BMW, other personal expenses and business expenses.

The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company fired Kahler in 2007 when it discovered he was promoting competing annuities, according to Durkan's office. 

Kahler will make his first appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle Tuesday.