Personal assistant pleads guilty to stealing $10M – Business News
A New York lady who labored as a personal assistant pleaded guilty to stealing practically $10 million from her aged employers – a Salomon Brothers banker and his spouse – to fund a lavish life-style together with items from Louis Vuitton and Gucci.
From about 2017 by means of 2024, Catalina Corona, 62, repeatedly deposited a whole bunch of checks written to money – made payable to herself – from the late Richard Schmeelk and his widow Priscilla’s accounts to pay her credit card payments and snag high-end items from Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Gucci, in accordance to court docket filings.
Corona – who lives in Queens and confirmed up at federal court docket final yr in a black cardigan with a $1,500 Louis Vuitton clutch – pleaded guilty to wire fraud at Brooklyn federal court docket on Wednesday.
Catalina Corona leaves Brooklyn federal court docket holding a Louis Vuitton purse on March 13, 2025. Gabriella Bass
She faces a most sentence of 30 years in jail, in addition to restitution and fines, in accordance to the US lawyer for the Eastern District of New York.
“Catalina Corona stole nearly $10 million from an elderly couple who entrusted her with their care to fund her lavish shopping habits,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle stated in a assertion.
“The FBI is committed to holding accountable individuals who abuse positions of trust out of selfish greed.”
Richard Schmeelk, who labored for 40 years at Salomon Brothers, died at 97 in May 2022, two years earlier than the fraudulent verify scheme was uncovered.
But that didn’t stop Corona, who saved looting from his widow’s accounts till she was caught in 2024 when a bank worker contacted Priscilla Schmeelk about a suspicious $1,500 verify, in accordance to court docket data.
Corona allegedly used the stolen funds to buy $1 million value of Louis Vuitton items. tongpatong – stock.adobe.com
After he retired from the storied investment bank, Richard Schmeelk co-founded his own firm, CAI Managers. He was a World War II veteran who was knighted by Pope Benedict XVI, in accordance to his obituary, and a member of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Fla., membership.
Schmeelk was equally ripped off by his then-executive secretary, Bebe Fazia Laljie, a long time earlier, when she diverted checks that he had signed for his personal bills for her own use over practically three years, a New York federal appeals court docket ruled in 1999.
Laljie was convicted of mail and bank fraud in 1998 at a Manhattan federal court docket following a jury trial presided over by now-Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She was sentenced to 46 months in jail and restitution funds of $505,532.
Corona allegedly used the stolen money to repay her credit card payments. megaflopp – stock.adobe.com
According to federal prosecutors, Corona began working for the aged couple in January 2017 and shortly began stealing from them by forging checks that had been made out to “cash.”
On a number of events, Corona even began calling the bank claiming to be one of the victims to get data on the couple’s bank accounts, in accordance to prosecutors.
During her yearslong scheme, she allegedly spent more than $1 million in stolen funds at Louis Vuitton; a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} at each Cartier and Gucci; and $305,000 on Apple merchandise, principally at shops in Queens and Long Island.
She additionally used the money to repay her credit card payments and guide airplane tickets, filings said.
