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Bernie Madoff: How helium pulled it disconnected
A retired IRS cause from Southern California has been sentenced to authorities situation aft she was convicted of defrauding an aged San Francisco Bay Area pistillate retired of $1 cardinal successful beingness savings.
According to the Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez's office, 81-year-old Elana Cohen-Roth of Marina Del Rey successful Los Angeles County was sentenced to 12 years successful situation connected Friday. Cohen-Roth was convicted of 23 felony counts of fiscal fraud successful narration to the scheme, which victimized a Sonoma County woman.
"The victim's years of hard enactment and beingness savings are gone owed to Ms. Cohen-Roth's greed. Unfortunately, the unfortunate volition ne'er beryllium made full financially and her beingness is everlastingly impacted," Rodriguez said successful a statement.
Prosecutors said Cohen-Roth began defrauding the unfortunate successful 2013, erstwhile she began preparing the 66-year-old's taxes.
"They rapidly became bully friends. From their idiosyncratic and nonrecreational relationship, Cohen-Roth gained entree to each the victim's fiscal information," according to the DA's office.
Cohen-Roth offered the unfortunate alleged "investment opportunities" successful which she promised astatine slightest 10% involvement astatine "no risk" connected much than 20 occasions from Dec. 2013 to Sep. 2019. Dollar amounts ranged from $25,000 to $150,000.
After depleting her morganatic investments, prosecutors said the unfortunate took retired a reverse owe to nonstop wealth to Cohen-Roth.
Prosecutors said slope records revealed that Cohen-Roth was moving a Ponzi strategy wherever others who believed they were investing besides deposited ample sums of money. Cohen-Roth utilized the wealth to wage disconnected earlier "investors" and utilized the remainder to enactment a lavish manner and to marque gifts to family.
In 2020, the Ponzi strategy fell isolated erstwhile the unfortunate demanded immoderate of her wealth backmost to determination adjacent family, which Cohen-Roth did not have.
"The past 73-year-old unfortunate went from owning her ain location and having astir $1,000,000 successful investments to unrecorded on, to being financially destitute," the DA's bureau said. "The aged unfortunate was incapable to wage for her minimal regular surviving expenses portion Elana Cohen-Roth lived comfortably connected the victim's money."
Prosecutors said the justice successful the lawsuit sentenced Cohen-Roth to 12 years alternatively of the maximum word of 28 years, owed to Cohen-Roth's age.
"The judge's condemnation is wholly due and hopefully volition supply immoderate measurement of justness for the victim," Rodriguez said.
Tim Fang is simply a integer shaper astatine CBS Bay Area. A Bay Area native, Tim has been a portion of the CBS Bay Area newsroom for much than 2 decades and joined the integer unit successful 2006.
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