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Woman Allegedly Cheated Holocaust Survivor Out Of Millions

   DailyWire.com
Gavel sitting on pile of dollar notes - stock photo judges/auctioneer's gavel with a pile of dollars Peter Dazeley via Getty Images
Peter Dazeley via Getty Images

An elderly Holocaust survivor was allegedly tricked into giving millions of dollars to a 36-year-old woman he came into contact with through a dating website.

The Department of Justice revealed an indictment and put out a press release on Wednesday alleging that the woman, Peaches Stergo, spent years cheating an 87-year-old man who survived the Holocaust out of his life savings. She was arrested on Wednesday and will go to court in Florida.

“As alleged, for years, Stergo deceived an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, maliciously draining his life savings so she could become a millionaire through fraud. Stergo forged documents and impersonated a bank employee in exchange for a life of fancy trips, Rolex watches, and luxury purchases,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said. “Today’s arrest reemphasizes this Office’s commitment to seeking justice for victims of financial frauds.”

The DOJ unsealed the indictment, which claimed that from May of 2017 to at least the fall of 2021, Stergo carried out a plan to trick the elderly man out of more than $2.8 million, which was all of the money that he had saved over the course of his life.

The two were acquainted around six or seven years ago through an online dating site. Stergo lied over the course of more than four years, beginning with a claim that she needed to borrow funds to give her lawyer payment. After he gave her the cash, she kept lying, telling the victim to put funds into her bank accounts. She said that if he didn’t give her the money, then the accounts would freeze and he would never get his money back.

She also made a fake email to make it look like it was that of a TD Bank worker and forged letters from a worker at the bank, as well as produced fraudulent invoices.

She went on to spend the money she got from him and purchased a condo, boat, multiple cars, and even a house in a gated area. She also went on pricey vacations and stayed at locations such as the Ritz Carlton, as well as purchased jewelry and high-end clothes. The elderly man had to give up his apartment and lost all of his money.

“Today we allege the defendant callously preyed on a senior citizen simply seeking companionship, defrauding him of his life savings. The FBI is determined to get justice for victims of fraud and to ensure that scammers face justice for their actions,” FBI Assistant Director Michael J. Driscoll added, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.

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