Three years ago, Helga Marston, who is now 92 years old, opened an account at a US financial institution. She gave her younger friend, Nancy Tsai, power of attorney over the account and later made Ms. Tsai a trustee of the account. I found the story lacking in one detail, as it does not say for whom the funds were held in trust when the account was opened. Interestingly, the financial advisor who opened the account was Ms. Tsai's boyfriend.
In any event, Ms. Tsai allegedly shopped up a storm with Ms. Marston's account, including a $2.3 million penthouse apartment, a Bentley, two Mercedes vehicles, travel on a private jet, restaurant outings, and personal shopping.
The article says that Ms. Marston had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and had "zero" mental ability at the time all of this was happening. Ms. Tsai has now been arrested and charged. I notice that all of this came to light because the staff at a financial institution became concerned that financial abuse might be happening to their elderly customer.
Click here to read the full story from www.nationalpost.com.
If I had a customer in a situation similar to Ms. Marston's, I probably would have advised her to hire a trust company as her trustee. Sure, there are fees involved, but the funds would be safe, and properly invested.
The article doesn't say what financial condition Ms. Marston is in, now that so much of her funds have been stolen. I certainly hope she is left with enough to provide her with decent care for the rest of her life. In many cases, this kind of elder financial abuse leaves the victim absolutely nothing.
The attached photo of Nancy Tsai accompanied the article in the National Post and is credited to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department.
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