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WEST JORDAN — A West Jordan man is accused of stealing nearly $600,000 from his sister-in-law's trust fund and spending it on cars, restaurants, hotels and a remodeling project.
Eddie Max Sorensen, 59, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with unlawful dealing of property by a fiduciary, a second-degree felony.
West Jordan police began their investigation in 2022 when a woman "reported that her brother-in-law, the defendant, Eddie Max Sorensen, had been stealing money from her family trust," according to charging documents. She stated that he "was the executor of a trust left to her by her husband. … (She) stated that the entirety of the trust was hers and that she recently obtained access to some of (Sorensen's) accounts, which revealed that he spent funds from her trust on restaurants, hotels, flights and transfers into his bank account. (She) stated that (Sorensen) refuses to allow her to withdraw funds from the account."
Detectives reviewed the trust and discovered Sorensen "should not have access to the trust" because the sister-in-law was still alive, and the trust names Sorensen as "successor trustee" only in the event of her death, the charges state.
The sister-in-law also told police about a house that she and her late husband owned in Arizona, which was being used as a rental. After her husband's death, however, Sorensen "took over the house, remodeled it, and then sold it. (The sister-in-law) stated that she did not know how much money (Sorensen) invested in the home and that she never received any money from the tenants after (he) took control," according to the charges.
Police say they found $320,000 from the sale of the property in Sorensen's bank account, which "also used the trust to pay the contractors working on the home remodel," the charges state.
Detectives also found that the sister-in-law "was not given the money following (her husband's) death, as stipulated in the trust, and that she was unable to access the accounts because Sorensen opened them only in his name and the trust's name. (He) invested money, paid off debts and took money out of (his sister-in-law's) trust account without her permission. (He) invested money in cars, which (she) had given him permission to do in small amounts, but an email revealed that (she) was not aware that Sorensen had invested so much and that he failed to keep her informed," according to the charges.
Bank statements revealed that "the amount (Sorensen) took from the trust, including the money he used to invest in the cars, totaled approximately $597,344.92," prosecutors stated in charging documents.
