Mary, a 93-year old multi-millionaire, who lived alone and had no family, held accounts with many financial institutions but none (or so she thought) with the bank that mailed her a notice that she owned a $9,000 CD that was maturing. On a whim, Mary’s broker inquired about other accounts at the bank and was told that Mary and her long-time former caretaker and friend, Dominic, had a joint account with a balance of $840,714.30. A legal odyssey began—one which would ultimately end with Dominic stripped of ill-gotten wealth and prosecuted by the federal government, and Mary almost fully reimbursed.

The Scheme
In 1992, a joint account was opened in Mary and Dominic’s names. Although a signature card had Mary’s signature on it, she had no recollection of signing one or ever opening any joint account with Dominic. As part of Dominic’s “caretaking” duties, Mary allowed him to organize and store all of her securities. When Mary hired a broker to manage her financial affairs in 2001, Mary and her broker requested that Dominic return all of her securities. She believed he had done so when they received a briefcase containing stock and bond certificates totaling in excess of $30 million. They were wrong…

Dominic had kept about $3 million of Mary’s securities. In addition, many years prior, Dominic had changed the registered address of the securities to a post office box that he controlled. So, when dividend and interest checks arrived in the post office box, Dominic would deposit them in the joint account and then withdraw the money and deposit it into multiple accounts in his name alone. This resulted in the theft of millions in interest and dividends. Finally, in 2003, Dominic got so bold that he used a forged Power of Attorney to sell over $1 million worth of Mary’s securities. In the end, this scheme resulted in diversion of about $10 million from Mary to Dominic.

The Civil Case
Immediately after Mary and her broker discovered the joint account, MacElree Harvey attorney Tim Rayne was retained to locate and attempt to recover her stolen money and securities. A few days later, Tim filed emergency court documents to freeze all of Dominic’s accounts. In connection with the initial court proceedings, Dominic returned about $4 million to Mary, but without admitting any guilt or obligation to return any additional funds. The nearly $4 million in remaining funds which Dominic controlled were frozen pending resolution of the civil case.

Over the next three years, legal maneuvering continued with Dominic claiming that the funds were not stolen but, rather, had been gifted to him. Numerous depositions and interviews of witnesses took place, and dozens of bank account records were subpoenaed to trace the flow of money.

Finally, in 2006, in order to spare Mary the stress of a trial, Tim settled the civil case at Mediation. Approximately $2.5 million in additional monies were returned to Mary. The civil case was over, but Dominic's troubles were just beginning.

The Criminal Prosecution
Immediately after Mary’s broker informed Tim of the scheme and retained him to represent Mary for her civil claims, Tim reported Dominic’s criminal acts to the FBI. Days later, two FBI agents interviewed Dominic, with his consent, and Dominic made several incriminating statements to the effect that he had taken Mary’s money and knew what he had done was wrong. Later, in both the civil and criminal cases, Dominic claimed that his statements were taken out of context and were not admissions of guilt.

After the settlement of the civil case, the United States government, through the Philadelphia U.S. Attorney’s Office, began the criminal prosecution. In the summer of 2007, months of grand jury testimony resulted in a criminal indictment against Dominic for mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and filing false tax returns. In addition to seeking prison time for Dominic, the U.S. Attorney also sought forfeiture of all of Dominic's remaining assets to reimburse Mary for all of her losses.

The End of the Story
Two months after his indictment in the summer of 2007, but before he could be tried for his crimes, Dominic died of cancer at age 76. On August 19, 2009, Mary died peacefully. She was 98 years old. Despite Dominic and Mary’s deaths, the U.S. Attorney’s Office continued with the forfeiture action and eventually reached an agreement with Dominic’s Estate to forfeit another $1.8 million to be returned to Mary’s Estate in May 2010.

In the end, Mary was reimbursed nearly $9 million of the approximately $10 million stolen from her.