PatrickPretty.com

Tag: Mariana Montes

  • UPDATE: California Woman Arrested Last Week In Ponzi Case Charged Separately With Stealing From 90-Year-Old Widow And Using Money For Liposuction

    A woman jailed in California on Ponzi scheme charges has been charged in a separate case with stealing from a 90-year-old widow and using some of the money to have a liposuction procedure performed in Mexico.

    Redondo Beach police said they were investigating Mariana Montes for a separate crime when they discovered she was running a Ponzi scheme targeting Latin immigrants. The separate crime turned out to be financial abuse of the elderly.

    Police described it as a $682,000 fraud case in which it is alleged Montes conned the elderly woman into taking out home-equity loans, refinancing her home three times and making out blank checks that Montes cashed.

    The $900,000 home, which had been in the elderly woman’s family for 100 years, had no mortgage before Montes conned the woman, police said. The Daily Breeze newspaper of Torrance, Calif., reported that the woman was forced to sell the home to pay off the bank after Montes scammed her — and that Montes gave some of the money to friends and used some of it to have liposuction.

    Montes, 41, ran a fraudulent company known as “Fast Results Investments.” Redondo Beach police said she targeted Latin immigrants in a Ponzi scheme. The preliminary loss was estimated at $500,000 in the Ponzi case, but investigators said the figure could increase.

    “[She] used the investors’ money to purchase designer clothing, a new vehicle and to fund her daily activities,” police said.

    See our earlier story on Montes.

    See the Daily Breeze story about the alleged fleecing of the 90-year-old woman.

  • Local Police In California Uncover Ponzi Scheme While Investigating Woman For Unrelated Crime; Ponzi Targeted At Latin Immigrants

    Police in Redondo Beach, Calif., say they were investigating Mariana Montes for a separate crime and seeking her arrest on a warrant, but discovered during their probe that she had wiped out investors by running a Ponzi scheme targeting Latin immigrants.

    Montes, 41, now is jailed on the original warrant, and the Ponzi investigation is proceeding as a separate matter.

    Police said the Ponzi was operated through a bogus company known as “Fast Results Investments.” Montes met with individual investors beginning in 2007, and promised clients who invested a minimum of $5,000 returns of 25 percent within 30 to 90 days.

    At least 55 victims have been identified in the opening days of the probe, police said today.

    Some of the victims “invested their entire life savings or complete retirement account balances,” police said.

    “Montes used the investors’ money to purchase designer clothing, a new vehicle and to fund her daily activities,” police said.

    Police said their preliminary estimate of $500,000 in losses likely would rise, perhaps significantly.

    “It is believed that there are many more victims of Montes’ Ponzi scheme that have not yet been identified,” police said, noting that they already have evidence that Montes was conducting business in Arizona.

    Investigators at the Redondo Beach Police Department have established a special telephone line for possible victims. The phone line has information in both English and Spanish.

    The Police Department is urging any possible victims of this Ponzi scheme to call 310- 379-2477 Ext. 2332.

    Montes is being held in the Los Angeles County jail, on a warrant for “another financial crime” unrelated to the Ponzi scheme, police said. Jail records show the crime was a felony, but the specific crime was not defined.

    Bail was set at $572,465.