An elderly Santa Rosa woman was defrauded of more than $1 million during a seven-year Ponzi scheme run by a former IRS agent and current tax professional last week.
Victim of alleged fraud
As reported by Kron4 News, the police stated that the victim first reported the alleged fraud in December 2020, when she informed authorities that she had committed a considerable sum of money to an associate to invest on her behalf. The defendant and the older woman met through a common friend in 2012.
The suspect has been named Elana Cohen-Roth, 77, of Marina Del Rey, a former IRS Field Agent and IRS Tax Auditor who was arrested for allegedly running a Ponzi scam. Cohen-Roth currently resides in Los Angeles and works as an authorized agent and tax return practitioner for individuals and businesses.
According to a press release, a Property Crimes Investigations Team took over the criminal investigation since it suspected the victim had been duped out of a considerable amount of money.
Stealing more than $1M
As reported by CBS San Francisco Bay Area News, police investigated their allegations and discovered that the victim had lost more than $1 million to the suspect over a seven-year period.
According to authorities, when the victim no longer had any funds to invest and asked for her assets to be liquidated, the suspect’s conduct and communications raised concerns, as did the victim’s behavior and interactions with the suspect.
Cohen-Roth was arrested on January 18 at her home in Marina Del Rey, California, by detectives from the Santa Rosa Police Department, whoofficers assisteds from the Los Angeles Police Department.
It was also reported that She was booked into the L.A. Metropolitan Detention Center Jail on 22 counts of financial elder abuse and three counts of money laundering. She was scheduled to be moved to the Sonoma County Jail sometime this week.
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