Yahoo News
Barry Heitin, a 76-year-old retired lawyer, never imagined becoming the victim of a sophisticated financial scam that would drain nearly all of his retirement savings. His story, shared in the New York Times, unfolds with the drama of a Hollywood thriller, raising critical questions about the vigilance of financial institutions in protecting their clients’ assets.
Heitin was approached by criminals who convinced him he was assisting in a government investigation. Trusting their fabricated authority, Heitin unwittingly helped these scammers siphon off approximately $740,000 from his checking, savings, and IRA accounts. “They kept telling me, ‘This is a big case and we are going to stop a whole ring of people,” Heitin explained, according to The New York Times article. “It was like a rabbit hole. I was going down the hole with them,” he added.
The emotional and financial toll of this deception has been devastating, compounded by a $285,000 federal and state tax bill due to withdrawals from his tax-advantaged retirement accounts.
Robert Rabinowitz, a shareholder at Becker and Heitin’s legal counsel, is working tirelessly to recover some of the lost funds. He emphasizes that the activities involved in this scam were classic indicators of potential money-laundering schemes. “This type of activity is a classic sign of potential money-laundering activity and should have raised red flags,” Rabinowitz stated.
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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/76-old-retired-lawyer-unknowingly-161535286.html
