Woman who lost $850,000 to scammers posing as Brad Pitt faces wave of online harassment and mockery

A French woman who revealed on television how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt, has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday.The woman, named as Anne, told the "Seven to Eight" program on the TF1 channel that she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer $850,000.The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as AI image-creating technology to send Anne what appeared to be selfies and messages from Pitt.To extract money, they pretended that the 61-year-old actor needed money to pay for kidney treatment, with his bank accounts supposedly frozen because of divorce proceedings with his ex-wife Angelina Jolie.Anne, a 53-year-old interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and half believing she was communicating with Pitt and[…]

Elderly woman died after being found unresponsive outside local nursing home

by: Peggy GallekWARRENSVILLE HEIGHTS, Ohio (WJW) — Warrensville Heights police are investigating the death of an elderly woman after she was found unresponsive outside of the Avenue Warrensville Care and Rehabilitation Center on Christmas Eve. The FOX 8 I-Team obtained a copy of the Warrensville Heights police report that states the 84-year-old woman was last seen by a nurse at 8:40 p.m. Dec. 23.The report further notes that another nurse went to check on the woman at 9:30 p.m. and she was not in the room. The nurse told officers that she “assumed” the woman left the hospital with her brother. She then said she checked the logs and found that no visitors were at the hospital on Dec. 23. The nurse said she then tried calling the woman’s brother but he didn’t answer.The nurse then told the officer “multiple times that she is a new nurse and was not sure what to[…]

Wendy Williams denies she's 'cognitively impaired,' says guardianship feels 'like I'm in prison'

Williams appeared on 'The Breakfast Club' and spoke about her guardianshipBy Caroline ThayerWatch the latest video at foxnews.comWendy Williams sobbed on the phone from the New York care facility where she is currently residing, detailing the duress she's been under since entering into a guardianship, in a new interview."I am not cognitively impaired, you know what I’m saying," she said in an interview on iHeartRadio's "The Breakfast Club" Thursday morning, where she was joined by her niece, Alex Finnie. In February 2024, Williams' team announced she'd been diagnosed with both progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD)."I feel like I’m in prison," the 60-year-old admitted on the radio program. "I’m in this place where the people are in their 90s and their 80s and their 70s," she continued. "There’s something wrong with these people here on this floor." She detailed the extreme supervision she was under, sharing that while she could make[…]

NY – AG James to Probe Guardianship Programs

by nycaribnewsAccording to sources familiar with the inquiry, New York Attorney General Letitia James is looking into how several guardianship groups handle the financial and medical matters of elderly and infirm New Yorkers who are judged incapable of taking care of themselves.The investigation, which is chaired by attorneys in the office’s charities section, comes after a year-long series that showed that some guardians took use of their positions for personal benefit, while others disregarded their vulnerable clients.Judges frequently rely on guardianship agencies to look after the so-called unbefriend, or those who have no family or friends to care for them. Nevertheless, there is little control, authorities hardly ever visit wards, and the courts mostly use financial records to determine well-being. This oversight has resulted in neglect, abuse, and fraud.New York Guardianship Services (NYGS) is one of the organizations under scrutiny. More than a dozen patients, including an elderly woman housed[…]

It just makes me want to cry...

It just makes me want to cry...

Contractors, handymen, loan brokers, even family can scam older homeowners. What to know

By LEW SICHELMAN Andrews McMeel SyndicationEvery few years, federal regulators issue warnings to banks and credit unions about the dangers of senior financial abuse. But it isn’t just up to financial institutions to spot instances of potential fraud. It’s also up to anyone with a family member or friend who’s getting up in years — especially if they own their home. Older homeowners are a prime target for swindlers, and it’s easy to see why. Not only are seniors viewed as vulnerable and trusting, but homeowners 62 and older are sitting atop roughly $14 trillion of housing wealth.Unfortunately, an AARP report says that older adults lose around $28.3 billion annually to some form of financial exploitation. And the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, part of the U.S. Treasury Department, says banking institutions filed more than 155,000 elder financial victimization reports in the 12-month period ending in June 2023. These reports don’t break out[…]

Woman sentenced for stealing from her elderly mother using Power of Attorney

District Attorney Stephan Baratta announced Tuesday that a Northampton County woman was sentenced for financially exploiting her elderly mother. Alyssa Piazza was sentenced on December 12, 2024, to 58 to 116 months in state prison.According to the DA, she was sentenced for financial exploitation of an older adult and related charges for the theft of her 86-year-old mother's entire estate. She achieved the theft by the criminal misuse of a Power of Attorney.The DA states that Piazza's actions left her mother virtually homeless, as she diverted her mother's estate, including selling her mother's home that she lived in for 27 years.She was found guilty by a jury of three counts of theft by unlawful taking, two counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received, financial exploitation of an older adult, and abuse of care-dependent person. Full Article & Source: Woman sentenced for stealing from her elderly mother using[…]

New Details About Wendy Williams' Health Revealed

By BINCharlamagne tha God shared a new update on Wendy Williams' health amid claims that she was "cognitively impaired, permanently disabled, and legally incapacitated.” During an episode of "The Breakfast Club," Charlamagne tha God revealed that he had spoken with the former talk show host over the holidays. Charlamagne suggested that Williams sounded like her old self, adding that she could be ready for a potential return to radio or television soon. His comments come after Williams was diagnosed with aphasia and dementia in May 2023, roughly one year after a legal guardian was put in place to oversee her health and finances. In a court filing obtained by TMZ in November, Williams' guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, said the ex-tv host "has been afflicted by early-onset dementia and, as a result, has become cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated." “No cap, I spoke to Wendy over the holidays. She was—seemed perfectly fine to[…]

Elder abuse pandemic: Golden years gone wrong

The elderly, roughed up in nursing homes, hit by caregivers, stolen from by strangers, and neglected by family. A study by the Administration on Aging reports that before the COVID-19 pandemic, 1 in 10 elderly adults in the U.S. suffered abuse. Today that number has doubled to 1 in 5. Source: Elder abuse pandemic: Golden years gone wrong

‘Broken system’: AG’s office still pushing for guardianship reform

by: Susan SamplesGRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The prosecutor who heads up Michigan’s Elder Abuse Task Force says he won’t stop fighting to reform the state’s system for appointing guardians and conservators. “You can take control over another human being’s life and their property and not have anything regarding certification or licensure,” said Scott Teter, chief of the Financial Crimes Division within the Office of the Michigan Attorney General. “That’s insane. … That system’s broken.”  Target 8 first sat down with Teter in 2020 after a Grand Rapids woman was charged in Muskegon County with embezzling from the vulnerable adults whose money she controlled as their guardian.Teter heads up the state’s Elder Abuse Task Force, which was launched by the attorney general’s office in 2019. “You could be stocking the shelves at Walmart yesterday — no offense to those folks — but today, you could be a guardian if the judge[…]

Virginia hospital indicted for healthcare fraud

by Madie MacDonald, Jimmy LaRoueCHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — Chesapeake Regional Medical Center (CRMC) has been charged with healthcare fraud and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. as well as interference with government functions after a federal grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday. The hospital, as alleged in the indictment, gave privileges to Javaid Perwaiz from 1984 until he was arrested in 2019, even after knowing he had been terminated at another hospital for performing unnecessary surgeries, and that, in 1996, he was convicted of two federal felonies. From 2010 to 2019, the hospital allegedly received about $18.5 million in reimbursements from healthcare benefit programs for surgical and obstetric procedures that Perwaiz performed at the hospital. “After Dr. Perwaiz was convicted of performing irreversible hysterectomies and other medically unnecessary surgeries on women, we continued to investigate the role that [Chesapeake Regional Medical Center] played,” said Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the[…]

‘Neglect,’ ‘exploitation’ by Kent County guardian prompt criminal enterprise charge

by: Susan SamplesGRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A joint investigation by detectives in Grand Rapids, Walker and Kent County uncovered a public guardian’s “wide-ranging scheme” to exploit vulnerable adults, according to court records. Kimberley St. Onge, who served as a guardian through Kent County Probate Court, is charged with conducting a criminal enterprise, a 20-year-felony, and embezzlement from a vulnerable adult more than $1,000 but less than $20,000. “St. Onge, acting as a legal guardian for multiple individuals, systematically diverted funds meant to support the basic needs of vulnerable adults,” a Grand Rapids detective wrote in a probable cause affidavit filed Dec. 17 in 61st District Court. “Across all cases, St. Onge exhibited a clear and deliberate pattern of financial exploitation, commingling funds, and neglecting her legal and moral responsibilities as a guardian.”The complaint lists 12 alleged victims and/or complainants who lost a total of $43,650 in amounts that ranged[…]

Voting rights bill for adults in guardianships gets support from local residents

By Scott McCaffreyUnder current Virginia law, adults placed into a guardianship or conservatorship are automatically deemed ineligible to vote. One Northern Virginia legislator, backed by a key advocacy group and a number of affected individuals, is working to change that. State Sen. Barbara Favola (D-40) has introduced legislation that would eliminate the automatic stripping of voting rights of those who come under a guardianship. “People with differing abilities should have the same chance to participate in our democracy as everyone else,” Favola told FFXnow. “Many people may require a guardian or conservator simply because they need assistance in managing their finances, but this should not mean that an individual is not competent to vote.” Prefiled in December, Favola’s Senate Bill 765 has been referred to the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services. It should receive a sympathetic hearing there, as Favola chairs that committee. At a legislative hearing hosted[…]

Four years since Maya Millete went missing, kids making progress

The sister and brother-in-law have guardianship of Maya's three children. Author: David Gotfredson CHULA VISTA, Calif. — It’s been four years since Maya Millete went missing from her home in Chula Vista on January 7, 2021.  Her body still has not been found and her husband, Larry Millete, remains in jail charged with Maya’s murder.  His trial is set for July 7. Maya’s sister and brother-in-law, Maricris and Richard Drouaillet, were granted custody the missing woman’s three children in August, following a drawn-out court battle with the paternal grandparents. “It's been a busy household for us, and it's a learning process again, doing schoolwork for the little ones and homecoming for high school,” said Maricris Drouaillet. The family spent the holidays at the Glamis sand dunes. “There's been progress, you know, a lot of progress with the kids.  So, we are happy with that, you know, with the guardianship, them[…]

How can anyone be that cruel? I will understand h...

How can anyone be that cruel? I will understand how this could happen...

My uncle was tricked into signing himself into a c...

My uncle was tricked into signing himself into a conservatorship by an attorney and he made himself the successor trustee & amended our family trust and sold millions in property and will not even tell us where the trust accounts are held. The court told me that there is nothing they can do to help because the trustee/attorney removed my father from the trust that his mother and father left. The trustee closed the accounts and moved the money and he blocked me when I asked him where the accounts were held. The court has said they cannot do anything. The trustee refuses to answer any questions or just goes in circles with vague answers. Meanwhile, my 80 year old uncle is calling me from a neighbor's phone asking me to send him money for food because his phone was disconnected. The conservator and the trustee/attorney worked together to get[…]

The Oregon ombudsman, Fred Steele, is worthless an...

The Oregon ombudsman, Fred Steele, is worthless and in bed with the predators!

hi uwu

hi uwu

True. Unfortunately it happens in some families. ...

True. Unfortunately it happens in some families. But that protection should not be guardianship.

I pray things turn out for him.

I pray things turn out for him.

Good news

Good news

Isn't that something? It's nice to read t...

Isn't that something? It's nice to read this kind of story!

Even today 2024 she swindled her own father for hi...

Even today 2024 she swindled her own father for his money and does nothing to help.karma will catch her very soon!

I had lousy experience with the Jewish service,got...

I had lousy experience with the Jewish service,got from them very abusive treatment including lying at court in dv case or trafficking my kids into adoption

I would stay away from Special Needs Trusts. We ha...

I would stay away from Special Needs Trusts. We had a professional guardian attached to our lawyer - the lawyer shoving us into using her as a 'fiduciary' and together they drained it. Lots of nonfeasanse, malfeasance - charging significantly more to correct continual string of errors. It's as if she were INTENTIONALLY making errors just to inflate billing after she IMMEDIATELY petitioned court for full permanent conservatorship and guardianship. The professional guardianship industry is targeting SNT beneficiaries and their families as it is a growth market.Ours was helmed quite literally by a bankrupted McDonald's cashier.She and the attorney did this to a number of his clients that he set up trusts for and 'in under 3 years, many were nearly bankruptcy'.We originally had nearly $2,000,000 estate that funded the trust and in under 7 years there was but one house and about $200,000This woman is in the leadership of[…]

Jean Schaeffer – IA

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