More than a dozen former clients of a South Jersey financial advisor, who died in January, are trying to recover missing money estimated at nearly $5 million.

Lawyers for former clients of David L. Garfield of Cherry Hill, N.J., have filed multiple suits seeking the return of money they invested through his Garfield Financial Group in Voorhees, N.J., according to the South Jersey Courier Post. Garfield died in his home Jan. 26.

An attorney representing 16 former clients told the newspaper the amount of money and former customers coming forward “grows by the day” and he has heard stories of people losing their life savings. In addition to suits by former clients, Garfield’s business practices are also under investigation by the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.

The suits include claims by doctors, dentists and other professionals, as well as some of Garfield’s own relatives, according to the Courier Post.

One doctor, Leonard B. Segal, told the newspaper that he and his wife invested more than $550,000 with Garfield and the money is now unaccounted for. Another former client said she invested funds with Garfield’s advice and in September 2008, Garfield suggested she give him the money so he could combine it with funds from other investors in a high-yielding certificate of deposit.

The woman, an interior designer, said she received paperwork for the investment, but the money is now missing, according to the report.

The suits filed against Garfield’s estate allege that he forged financial record, bounced checks and repeatedly misled and stalled clients who sought the return of their funds and some name Garfield’s wife, Marjorie, as a defendant as she stands to gain $1.8 million in life insurance following his death.