Peaches Stergo, 36 years old from Florida swindled an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor and depleted his life savings.
The Department of Justice said that after more than four years, Stergo “stole” $2.8 million from the unnamed senior.
Stergo was arrested on Wednesday, with U.S. Attorney Damian Williams saying she “maliciously” drained the unnamed Holocaust survivor’s savings so “she could become a millionaire through fraud.”
How the scheme started
Based on DOJ records, Stergo met her victim on a dating website between 2016 and 2017 when the unsuspecting senior was living in Manhattan. It was at the beginning of 2017 that she then asked him if she could borrow money to pay for her lawyer “whom she claimed was refusing to release funds from an injury settlement.” But bank records allegedly showed that she never received settlement funds.
That was how the deception began and the start of a sequence of lies that prevailed in the more than four years that Stergo and the Holocaust survivor had been communicating with each other.
Holocaust survivor scammed
According to prosecutors, Stergo continually demanded that the 87-year-old holocaust survivor give her money to prevent her accounts from becoming frozen. Throughout that time, he wrote 62 checks totaling more than $2.8 million. To make her “story” stick, she used a fake email account and created bogus letters and invoices that appeared to be from an employee of TD Bank.
That email account, according to the indictment, was used to “repeatedly assure the victim, over months, that he would be repaid if he continues to deposit money” into her bank account.
Sometime in October 2021, the defrauded holocaust survivor told his son what had happened.
How the money was used
Stergo purchased a home in a gated community, a boat, and multiple cars, as well as take luxurious tours, and purchased gold coins and bars, Rolex watches, and designer clothes. While Stergo was having the time of her life, the Holocaust survivor had to give up his apartment, the DOJ said.
“Stergo forged documents and impersonated a bank employee in exchange for a life of fancy trips, Rolex watches, and luxury purchases,” Williams said. “Today’s arrest reemphasizes this Office’s commitment to seeking justice for victims of financial frauds.”
The woman, from Champions Gate near Orlando, was charged with one count of wire fraud, which the DOJ said has a maximum sentence of 20 years.
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