Rich Consultant Faces Charges in Major Child Support Case

An investment adviser accused of hopping from state to state to avoid $580,000 in delinquent child support payments appeared in court Monday in what authorities said was the biggest child support case ever.

Jeffrey Nichols, 47, who earns about $400,000 a year as an expert on investments in precious metals, was arraigned in Manhattan on federal charges he crossed state lines to avoid paying child support.

He was later taken into custody on related New York state charges pending since 1990. A state judge ordered Nichols to spend the night in jail before a full hearing today.

FBI agents arrested Nichols last week at his lavish home in Charlotte, Vt., two days after his second wife died of cancer. He was charged under the Child Support Recovery Act.

“This isn’t about money, it’s about responsibility,” said his former wife, Marilyn Nichols Kane.

Kane and Nichols, who have three children, had been married for 16 years when he sought a divorce in 1985. Nichols supported his children until the divorce was completed in 1990. He then remarried and moved to Toronto.

He later moved to Florida and Vermont, reportedly leading a life of luxury while fighting Kane’s legal efforts for child support.

Mark Kaplan, Nichols’ lawyer, said his client has not seen his three children, ages 22, 20 and 15 now, since 1990.

“This case has been a real tragedy for everyone,” Kaplan said. “My client will do whatever he can to put these things behind him.”

Kaplan would not comment on whether Nichols would plead guilty to the federal charges but said he is negotiating a settlement with Kane’s lawyer.

While there are 7 million cases of failure to pay child support, Nichols is one of 77 alleged deadbeats whose offenses are so egregious that federal authorities have intervened.

Kane says she nearly went on welfare. “There was a time when I was six months in arrears on rent and he was keeping the cash reimbursements for the children’s medical expenses. He’d cashed out our life insurance policies, dissipated our retirement funds and taken our car to Canada.”

“I think there is another side,” Kaplan said. “We’re not going to speak to that issue right now.”