Retired IRS agent gets 12 years for scamming elderly California woman out of life savings

A retired IRS agent from Southern California has been sentenced to state prison after she was convicted of defrauding an elderly San Francisco Bay Area woman out of $1 million in life savings.

According to the Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez’s office, 81-year-old Elana Cohen-Roth of Marina Del Rey in Los Angeles County was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Friday. Cohen-Roth was convicted of 23 felony counts of financial fraud in relation to the scheme, which victimized a Sonoma County woman.

“The victim’s years of hard work and lifetime savings are gone due to Ms. Cohen-Roth’s greed. Unfortunately, the victim will never be made whole financially and her life is forever impacted,” Rodriguez said in a statement. 

Prosecutors said Cohen-Roth began defrauding the victim in 2013, when she began preparing the 66-year-old’s taxes.

“They quickly became good friends. From their personal and professional relationship, Cohen-Roth gained access to all the victim’s financial information,” according to the DA’s office.

Cohen-Roth offered the victim so-called “investment opportunities” in which she promised at least 10% interest at “no risk” on more than 20 occasions from Dec. 2013 to Sep. 2019. Dollar amounts ranged from $25,000 to $150,000. 

After depleting her legitimate investments, prosecutors said the victim took out a reverse mortgage to send money to Cohen-Roth.

Prosecutors said bank records revealed that Cohen-Roth was running a Ponzi scheme where others who believed they were investing also deposited large sums of money. Cohen-Roth used the money to pay off earlier “investors” and used the rest to support a lavish lifestyle and to make gifts to family.

In 2020, the Ponzi scheme fell apart when the victim demanded some of her money back to move near family, which Cohen-Roth did not have.

“The then 73-year-old victim went from owning her own home and having around $1,000,000 in investments to live on, to being financially destitute,” the DA’s office said. “The elderly victim was unable to pay for her minimal daily living expenses while Elana Cohen-Roth lived comfortably on the victim’s money.”

Prosecutors said the judge in the case sentenced Cohen-Roth to 12 years instead of the maximum term of 28 years, due to Cohen-Roth’s age.

“The judge’s sentence is entirely appropriate and hopefully will provide some measure of justice for the victim,” Rodriguez said.