An Orlando area woman has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of fraud after she allegedly scammed an 86-year-old Holocaust survivor of his life savings of $2.8 million over the course of multiple years.
Peaches Stergo, 36, was indicted in the Southern District of New York for a multi-year romance scam that she allegedly perpetrated while living in Championsgate, an Orlando area community.
According to the unsealed indictment, Stergo met the victim, who was residing in Manhattan at the time, on a dating website in early 2017.
Posing as a woman named “Alice,” Stergo told the victim that she had just settled a lawsuit involving injuries she suffered in a car accident.
She told the victim that her lawyer “would not release the settlement funds unless he received a certain amount of money,” according to court records.
Stergo asked the victim if she could borrow the money from him to pay the lawyer, and, in May 2017, bank records show that the victim issued a $25,000 check to Stergo.
For the next four and a half years, Stergo repeatedly lied to the victim to persuade him to send her money. The victim began writing checks to Stergo on a near-monthly basis, often in increments of $50,000.
After each check was deposited, Stergo told the victim that her bank needed more money, otherwise the accounts would be frozen and the victim would never be paid back. The victim continued to write checks because he was afraid he would never see his money again.
In total, the victim wrote 62 checks totaling over $2.8 million that were deposited in two different accounts owned by Stergo.
Authorities say that Stergo created a fake email account to impersonate a TD Bank employee and repeatedly assured the victim “over the course of months, that he would be repaid if he continued to deposit money into the victim’s TD Bank account.”
Stergo created fake letters from the TD Bank employee that claimed her account had a hold that would “only be lifted if many tens of thousands of dollars were deposited into her account.”
When the victim’s bank began questioning the large and repeated transfers, Stergo provided fake invoices to the victim to provide to bank officials.
In October 2021, the victim confided in his son that he had given his life savings to “Alice,” based on her assurances that he would be paid back. The victim’s son told his father that he had been scammed, and the victim stopped writing checks to Stergo.
The victim lost his life savings and was forced to give up his apartment in Manhattan, according to court records.
The indictment claims that Stergo used the millions she received from the fraud to live a “life of luxury.” Stergo purchased a home in a gated community, a condominium, a boat, and multiple cars, including a Corvette and a Suburban.
Stergo also took expensive trips, staying at posh hotels and eating expensive meals. She also allegedly purchased gold coins and bars, jewelry, Rolex watches, and designer clothing from Tiffany, Ralph Lauren, Neiman Marcus, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, and other luxury retailers.
The indictment calls for the forfeiture of all monies and funds previously deposited in Stergo’s bank accounts, her property at 1158 Trappers Trail Loop in Champions Gate, a 2022 Ram 1500, additional motor vehicles purchased with funds from the aforementioned bank accounts, Rolex watches, and other items purchased from luxury retailers.