Advisor Pleads Guilty to Posing As Labor Department Official
A Pittsburgh-based financial advisor pleaded guilty to impersonating a Labor Department employee in an attempt to defraud local business owners.
According to the Justice Department, Lazaven Mitchell pleaded guilty in a federal court in Pennsylvania late last month to one count of falsely impersonating a federal officer or employee. He faces a maximum of three years in prison.
SEC records indicate Mitchell briefly registered with Primerica Advisors between 2023 and 2025 (the fraud ran between April and June 2024). Besides the criminal charges, his only previous regulatory history is in 2013, for failing to appear “at scheduled domestic relations proceedings.”
According to the DOJ, Mitchell would approach local businesses, falsely claiming to work for the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, and then request to review a business’s retirement plans, claiming he would check whether they complied with regulatory requirements.
After reviewing the plans, Mitchell would falsely claim to have found a compliance issue and then suggest that the business terminate its current advisor and appoint him as the plan administrator; he’d even supply business owners with a draft letter they could sign to terminate the relationship with the plan advisor.
To keep the scam going, Mitchell would create a letter bearing the DOL seal and EBSA’s Washington, D.C., mailing address and send it to businesses. In one case, Mitchell referred to having a “final determination from the DOL,” and said he’d come to the business to retrieve “documents” for a DOL inquiry.
In a text exchange with another owner, Mitchell sent a fake business card with the EBSA name and crest, his name with the title “Employee Benefit Advisor,” and an address for a suite in the William S. Moorhead Federal Building in Pittsburgh.
Mitchell couldn’t be reached for comment.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 25, 2027. In addition to the prison sentence, Mitchell faces a fine of up to $250,000 or “twice the gross pecuniary gain” Mitchell received from the fraud. According to the DOJ, both the FBI and the DOL Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation that led to the charges.
