FL Woman Romanced Holocaust Survivor, Then Stole Life Savings: DOJ

NEW YORK, NY — A Florida woman is facing a federal fraud charge after authorities said she stole $2.8 million from a Holocaust survivor she met on a dating website.

Peaches Stergo, 36, of Champions Gate, is charged with one count of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. She is accused of defrauding the 87-year-old New York City man of his life savings.

If found guilty, Stergo faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

According to federal authorities, Stergo met the victim on a dating website several years ago. Around May 2017, she asked to borrow money from him to pay her lawyer, who she claimed was refusing to release money from an injury settlement.

After the victim gave her the money, authorities said that while Stergo claimed the settlement funds had been deposited into her bank account, bank records show she never received any money from an injury settlement.

Over the next four-and-a-half years, authorities said Stergo continued to lie and repeatedly asked the victim to deposit money into her bank accounts. She claimed that if he did not, her accounts would be frozen and he would never be paid back.

Authorities said the victim wrote 62 checks totaling over $2.8 million that were deposited into Stergo's bank accounts.

Authorities said Stergo also created a fake email account that appeared to belong to a TD Bank employee. She also created fake letters from a TD Bank employee and fake invoices.

According to authorities, the victim was eventually forced to give up his apartment while Stergo "lived a life of luxury with the millions" he gave her. Authorities said she used the money to buy a home in a gated community, a condominium, a boat, and numerous cars. She also took expensive trips, authorities said, and spent tens of thousands of dollars on expensive meals, jewelry, Rolex watches, and designer clothing.

Stergo will be tried in Tampa by U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos.