A retired IRS agent has been sentenced to 12 years in state prison for “methodically” defrauding an older Sonoma County woman of her life savings, prosecutors said.
Elana Cohen-Roth, a professional tax preparer, was sentenced Thursday after the victim went from owning her own home and having around $1 million in investments to being financially destitute, the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office said Friday.
Cohen-Roth, 81, of Marina Del Rey, exploited a professional and personal relationship with the woman over a seven-year period, prosecutors said in a press release.
Cohen-Roth began doing the woman’s taxes in 2013 when the victim was 66. As they became friends, Cohen-Roth gained access to all the victim’s financial information, prosecutors said.
Cohen-Roth told the victim that while her investments were making some money, she could earn far more by investing with her. Cohen-Roth told the victim she would invest it in some type of real estate deal where she could earn at least 10% interest at “no risk.”
From December 2013 through September 2019, Cohen-Roth extended “investment opportunities” to the victim on more than 20 occasions. Dollar amounts ranged from $25,000 to $150,000. Each time, the victim liquidated money from her legitimate investments and wired it to Cohen-Roth, prosecutors said.
Part of a larger Ponzi scheme
Cohen-Roth’s bank records showed that she was running a Ponzi scheme where other “investors” also deposited large sums into her account. Cohen-Roth used some of the victim’s money to pay off the earlier “investors” and used the rest to support her “lavish lifestyle” and make gifts to family members.
By September of 2019, the victim had depleted her investment accounts and took out a reverse mortgage to send additional money to Cohen-Roth, according to the district attorney’s office.
The Ponzi scheme collapsed in 2020 when the victim, then 73, asked for a return of some of her money so that she could move to be near family. Cohen-Roth didn’t have another source to pay the victim with, prosecutors said.
Sonoma Superior Court Judge Paige sentenced 81-year-old Cohen-Roth to the middle term of 12 years in state prison, rather than the maximum term of 28, because of Cohen-Roth’s age, prosecutors said.
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