A onetime Edina-based financial adviser has received a 2½-year prison sentence for cheating clients out of more than $2 million and using the money to buy property in the city.

Kristi Margaret Berge, 48, founder and CEO of Keep Safe Investments LLC, or KSI Financial, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in St. Paul after pleading guilty to wire fraud in connection with the scheme that ran from mid-2020 to early 2023.

After finishing her prison time, Berge will be on supervised release for two years. Her sentence also calls for her to make full restitution to her victims.

The U.S. Attorney's Office initially put the total stolen at $1.6 million, but it announced Thursday that the number tops $2.1 million.

Ahead of sentencing, defense attorney Bruce Rivers argued for his client to receive a term of six months' home confinement followed by three years' supervised release.

"Ms. Berge has demonstrated an incredible amount of acceptance of responsibility," Rivers wrote to the court, adding that she had no criminal history before this case. "Ms. Berge never set out to hurt anyone. Her business took a turn, and she made some serious mistakes along the way and has every intention to repay those who were harmed."

In response, prosecutors asked for Berge to receive a two-year prison term. They noted in their filing that she earned a degree from Columbia University, worked in London for the Morgan Stanley investment firm and "has been a supportive mother to her children."

However, the filing continued, "given her education, gainful employment and other job skills, Berge's decision to commit fraud is certainly puzzling and troubling. ... That Berge certainly had the means and professional skills to live comfortably without resorting to crime makes her scheme all the more aggravating."

According to Berge's plea agreement and other court documents:

Starting in June 2020 and continuing until February 2023, Berge stole roughly $1.6 million from client accounts, including retirement investments maintained by a company in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Berge withdrew amounts ranging from $5,000 to $220,000 without the Texas company's knowledge and moved them to a KSI bank account. She used the money to buy properties in Edina for her real estate business J&K Connect, which bought, renovated and resold properties.

Berge disguised her thefts by labeling the withdrawals as payments for management or administrative fees and created false authorization records.

The plea deal directed Berge to forfeit six properties in Edina: three condominiums in two buildings in the 7300 block of York Avenue S. and homes in the 5200 block of Danens Drive, the 6300 block of Josephine Avenue and the 6400 block of Wilryan Avenue.

She also used the money to buy one of the homes in the city for a family member.

At the time she was charged, the combined value of the residences was more than $1.7 million, according to Hennepin County property records.