Florida woman arrested for stealing $2.8 million from Holocaust survivor in romance scam

A 36-year-old woman has been arrested after she allegedly robbed a Holocaust survivor of his life savings in a romantic scam.

Peaches Stergo of Champions Gate, Florida, is charged with years of fraud to defraud an 87-year-old man of more than $2.8 million, the Justice Department said in a press release Wednesday.

The Stergo scheme was used between May 2017 and October 2021 to scam a man after she met a victim on a dating site almost seven years ago.

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According to the Justice Department, in 2017, Stergo asked a man to borrow money to pay her lawyer, who she claimed was refusing to pay out money from injury compensation.

After the victim gave the money to Stergo, she said that the funds for the settlement were transferred to her bank account. But bank records showed that Stergo never received the money from the injury compensation, the Justice Department explained.

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According to the Justice Department, Stergo continued to lie to the victim for several years. She demanded that the man deposit money into her bank accounts and said that if he did not, her accounts would be frozen and he would not return his money.

The man wrote 62 checks totaling over $2.8 million, which were transferred to one of Stergo’s bank accounts.

She then created a fake email account to make it look like it belonged to a TD Bank employee. The Justice Department alleges that Stergo fabricated fake letters and invoices from a TD Bank employee.

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Stergo made millions in the scam and used the money to buy a house, a condominium, a boat, and several cars, including a Corvette and a Suburban. According to the Justice Department, the man lost all his savings and was forced to give up his apartment.

The Justice Department says the woman went on expensive trips and stayed at places like the Ritz-Carlton, spending thousands of dollars on expensive food, gold coins and bars, jewelry, Rolex watches and designer clothes from stores like Tiffany, Neiman Marcus, Louis Vuitton. , and Hermes.

Stergo is charged with one count of wire fraud, with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, according to the Justice Department.

This story was reported from Washington, DC.