Assistant stole $10M from elderly clients to buy trove of designer goods, feds say — and shows up in court with Louis Vuitton bag
A personal assistant for an elderly Big Apple couple bilked them out of nearly $10 million during a brazen seven-year fraud scam — using the cash on upscale fashion accessories, federal prosecutors said.
Catalina Corona, 61, who showed up at federal court in Brooklyn sporting a black cardigan and a $1,500 Louis Vuitton clutch, was arraigned on wire fraud, bank fraud and identity theft charges for the alleged lucrative scheme that prosecutors said ran from 2017 until last year.
Most of the transactions were in Queens and Long Island, the feds said.
“The defendant’s greed knew no bounds, as she brazenly stole millions from elderly victims, using deceit to systematically steal the victims’ money and violate the trust they placed in her,” US Attorney John Durham said in a statement.
“My Office is committed to protecting the elderly from fraudulent schemes and ending elder abuse.”
According to federal prosecutors, Catalina began working for the unidentified elderly couple in January 2017, and was soon stealing from them by forging checks that were made out to “cash.”
The scheme went so far that Catalina even called the bank claiming to be one of the victims in 2019 and 2023 to get information on the couple’s bank accounts, the US Attorney said.
She allegedly used the money to pay off her credit card bills, for air travel and to shower herself with pricey merchandise from Cartier, Gucci — and over $1 million on Louis Vuitton items alone.
The scam finally unraveled on April 3, 2024, over a $1,500 check, when Catalina allegedly called the bank for the last time — and raised enough suspicion that a bank rep called the victim later on that day.
That’s when the elderly victim denied writing the check or ever making checks out to cash, and learned that there had been “a number of questionable checks made out to cash,” the indictment said.
A federal grand jury indicted her on the charges earlier this month and she was arraigned Thursday.
Catalina faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
She declined to comment as she left the courthouse, while her attorney, John Fink, told reporters that “there is voluminous evidence” he has to review before Catalina’s next court date on April 16.
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