Senior Fraud Victims Confront California Con Man In $43M Ponzi Scheme

In San Jose, California, the San Jose Mercury News reports:

• One by one, a succession of elderly fraud victims spoke in a San Jose courtroom [last] Thursday, many struggling for words and composure as they described how a dishonest mortgage broker took their life savings as part of a $43 million scam - and left them bereft. "Our savings are completely gone. We've had to sell every item we could. We are very depressed, and feel so frustrated, that we must count every penny," said 76-year-old Henry Bertrand, a retired military man whose voice grew hoarse as he explained that he had trusted broker Michael Schneider, only to become the victim of an elaborate scheme.
  "I was shaken to the core," added 80-year-old Mel Nashban, explaining that he had come to think of the earnest, boyish-looking 45-year-old as a member of his own family. On discovering Schneider's betrayal, Nashban said: "It was like he had taken a knife and put it in my heart." Fourteen others spoke in Santa Clara County Superior Court, most urging Judge Ray Cunningham to give the defendant a stiff prison sentence. Schneider pleaded no contest in August to 173 felony counts of burglary, embezzlement, elder financial abuse, grand theft and forgery. The maximum possible sentence is 169 years.

For more, see Elderly fraud victims confront swindler in court (Charming Swindler In Real Estate Case Confronted In Court).

For story update, see Santa Clara man gets 28 years for defrauding clients out of $43 million.

Go here , here , here , and here for other posts on elder financial abuse. whale