Posted on 08/21/2011 5:46:07 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
From storefront businesses in upscale Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods, a family of fortune tellers ran a $40-million scheme that defrauded people from near and far since 1991, federal prosecutors said in court Friday.
Among the victims was a bestselling author who gave an estimated $20 million to the family. The woman, who prosecutors refused to identify, lost her 8-year-old son in a motorcycle accident and was allegedly exploited by at least one of the defendants, Rose Marks, who she considered a friend.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
Anyone dumb enough to get taken by fortune tellers deserves to get taken by fortune tellers.
Gypsies are notorious for this kind of scam.
Any guesses on who the author is? Jude Deveraux apparently fits the profile.
Anne Rice had lost a child, but I thought it was leukemia, but I could otherwise see her finding herself in something like this.
Gosh, I wonder what they did with the money?
Romance novelist Jude Deveraux is the con. She also writes about the paranormal so she must actually believe the crap she puts on paper.
You are alleging con. Or conned?
Yep. Seems to me that the writer got what she paid for.
Did they perdict it though?
It's Jude Deveraux. Here's a link to the story from the UK's "Daily Mail":
Daily Mail story
seems like an awfully big score for storefront fortune tellers.
I know, right?
What’s next? Suing the people who lay crystals on you to align your chakras?
$20 mill? While true artists are starving at freeway exits? Serves he right! (She’ll make it right back.)
No, but this is in the article:
Several sources with knowledge of the case said the victim is Jude Deveraux, author of 37 New York Times bestsellers that include romances and tales of the paranormal. Deveraux’s real name is Jude Gilliam Montassir.
On her MySpace page, she wrote that she “adopted a son, Sam Alexander Montassir … My son died at age 8 in a motorcycle accident. It was a horrible accident I will never forget in my life. After it happened my books became more about family instead of romance.”
Attempts to reach Deveraux, 63, at phone numbers listed for her residences in and outside Florida were unsuccessful Friday evening.
Isn’t the PC term “psychics?”
Ann Rice became a Christian. Hopefully she had better friends around her than fortune tellers...
You called it. Closer perusal of a lot of reading reveals the Marks people are American born descendants of " a so-called Gypsy clan". Eastern Europe originally. That being said, one could wonder at the veracity of their abilities. If they could foretell the future, surely they could have covered their tracks. Taken a quick exit. In Canada, white collar crime (white collar- what a laugh) is three times less the penalties than in the States. Could be they are looking at some hard time.
Emotionally distraught people are ill equipped to deal with things that require common sense. It simply ain't right!
Last Summer she made a statement renouncing Christianity, then did some backpeddling and clarification. It’s hard to say exactly where she stands...
I would have told her that for a mere 50 grand.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.