NEW YORK — A 36-year-old Florida woman is accused in a years-long scheme that defrauded an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor of his life savings, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Peaches Stergo of Champions Gate, Florida, is charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Investigators said Stergo deceived the elderly man, draining his life savings so she could become a millionaire through fraud.
The scheme involved Stergo forging documents and impersonating a bank employee in exchange for trips, Rolex watches and luxury purchases, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Southern New York said.
"Today we allege the defendant callously preyed on a senior citizen simply seeking companionship, defrauding him of his life savings," FBI Assistant Director Michael J. Driscoll said in a statement. "The FBI is determined to get justice for victims of fraud and to ensure that scammers face justice for their actions."
From about May 2017 up to at least October 2021, Stergo engaged in the scheme to defraud the Holocaust survivor of more than $2.8 million, according to the indictment.
Officials said Stergo met the victim on a dating website about six or seven years ago.
Sometime in early 2017, investigators said Stergo asked the victim to borrow money to pay her lawyer, who she claimed was refusing to release funds from an injury settlement.
After the victim gave her the money, she said the settlement funds had been deposited into her TD Bank account. However, prosecutors said the bank records showed that Stergo never received any money from an injury settlement.
Officials said over the next four and a half years Stergo continued to lie to the victim, repeatedly demanding that he deposit money into her bank accounts. The indictment said she claimed that if he did not, her accounts would be frozen, and he would never be paid back.
In total, prosecutors said the victim wrote 62 checks totaling over $2.8 million, which were deposited into one of two of Stergo's bank accounts.
Stergo is also accused of creating a fake email account, intending it to appear as if it belonged to a TD Bank employee. Officials claim she also created fake letters from a TD Bank employee and fake invoices.
Federal investigators said the victim lost his life savings and was forced to give up his apartment, while Stergo lived a life of luxury with the millions she received from the fraud. They said she bought a home in a gated community, a condominium, a boat and numerous cars, including a Corvette and a Suburban.
Officials said Stergo also took expensive trips, staying at places like the Ritz Carlton, and spent many tens of thousands of dollars on expensive meals, gold coins and bars, jewelry, Rolex watches and designer clothing from stores like Tiffany, Ralph Lauren, Neiman Marcus, Louis Vuitton and Hermes.
