A Home for My Brother's Family
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A Home for my Brother’s Family
My brother, Jeremiah, and his family were taken advantage of by a con-artist. Not a typical street hustler, but someone who systematically gained my and my family’s trust, became part of our family, and then proceeded to steal from us. He took advantage of us all but he stole the most from Jeremiah and his family.
Jeremiah has a wife and three children. He works to support and provide for them. He has worked and saved to buy a home to raise them in. About a year and a half ago he and his wife sold their house, in hopes of saving up a bit more money to move closer to his work. They were careful and bought the house and then sold it when the market was in their favor. They wanted to wait about a year, adding to what they had made on the house to have enough money to buy in an area closer to his job. His commute at that time was about an hour and a half each way and he wanted to be able to spend more time at home instead of in the car. The houses closer to his work were more expensive so they needed to save more money before they bought there.
In came the con-artist. He told him that he would invest the money for him. This man had been a part of our family for about a year and a half at this time. He walked the walk and talked the talk of being a successful investor. He traveled when he wanted. Paid cash for cars. Had other happy investors. All the time with an air of humility. He was never pushy or demanding. Just insinuated that he could help my brother achieve his goal. Saying that he does not invest for very many people just friends and family and that he would do it for my brother, if he wanted him to. He had a silver tongue and knew how to act. He was personable and friendly. He could strike up a conversation with anyone. Everyone that met him always liked him. He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The con-artist took my brothers money. Supposedly investing it. He sent my brother statements every month showing him how his money was growing. My brother even said to me once that he wished he had those skills to be able to invest like that. It was all a lie. My brother’s money was actually gone within a few months of “funding” his investment account but he kept getting statements for nearly a year.
The con-artist was, unfortunately, my husband. I had been married to him for a little over a year before my brother invested his money with him. Things started falling apart with his investment scams another year after that. I have learned in the last 6 months that nearly everything I knew about him was a lie.
He won me over when I was dating him because he treated me better than anyone else did. He was always thoughtful and respectful. This is part of his act, he’s a chameleon, and he somehow instinctively knows what people want and becomes that.
Being married to him, I met and got to know other people that he was investing for. Some of them were his close friends that he spent time with every day. They were happy with his investments as well. He always told everyone that their accounts were liquid, they could get money out whenever they wanted. I saw this happen. They would ask to get money out, a few days later he would give them a check. In fact this is how we knew that something was wrong, suddenly people started having trouble getting money out of their accounts. My brother and my father, who had also invested some money with him, became suspicious at this point. But I wasn’t, yet. He never dropped the act, even at home, he got up every day to check on his investment accounts, acted the part of a concerned investor. Told me the same lies that he was telling everyone else plus more.
The con-artist is in jail now, he’s currently facing charges for similar scams that he had done before I had met him and a new case for the current “investors” is being built. I only know the most recent group of people that were scammed. That group includes my brother, my parents, two of his best friends, his ex-wife, a couple of newlyweds not even out of college and an elderly retired man. He did do one thing he said he would, he really did invest (ie: steal) from just friends and family. None of these people would be considered rich, they all work or worked for their money. Between them all he took 100’s of thousands.
He stole $100,000 from my brother.
All of the money from this campaign will go towards making a down payment on a house for my brother and his family. Being betrayed by someone you loved and trusted is a terrible feeling. I just hope this will help them heal from this experience. I feel ashamed that someone I was married to did this to them. I would give him the money if I had it, but by the time he was arrested there was no money left. Not only had he spent everyone’s money, he had maxed out my credit cards and my house was 3 months behind in payments.
Thank you for reading this and thank you for donating if you can. We appreciate every donation big or small. I can answer any questions you may have about the situation. Please help this family have a home again.
My brother, Jeremiah, and his family were taken advantage of by a con-artist. Not a typical street hustler, but someone who systematically gained my and my family’s trust, became part of our family, and then proceeded to steal from us. He took advantage of us all but he stole the most from Jeremiah and his family.
Jeremiah has a wife and three children. He works to support and provide for them. He has worked and saved to buy a home to raise them in. About a year and a half ago he and his wife sold their house, in hopes of saving up a bit more money to move closer to his work. They were careful and bought the house and then sold it when the market was in their favor. They wanted to wait about a year, adding to what they had made on the house to have enough money to buy in an area closer to his job. His commute at that time was about an hour and a half each way and he wanted to be able to spend more time at home instead of in the car. The houses closer to his work were more expensive so they needed to save more money before they bought there.
In came the con-artist. He told him that he would invest the money for him. This man had been a part of our family for about a year and a half at this time. He walked the walk and talked the talk of being a successful investor. He traveled when he wanted. Paid cash for cars. Had other happy investors. All the time with an air of humility. He was never pushy or demanding. Just insinuated that he could help my brother achieve his goal. Saying that he does not invest for very many people just friends and family and that he would do it for my brother, if he wanted him to. He had a silver tongue and knew how to act. He was personable and friendly. He could strike up a conversation with anyone. Everyone that met him always liked him. He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The con-artist took my brothers money. Supposedly investing it. He sent my brother statements every month showing him how his money was growing. My brother even said to me once that he wished he had those skills to be able to invest like that. It was all a lie. My brother’s money was actually gone within a few months of “funding” his investment account but he kept getting statements for nearly a year.
The con-artist was, unfortunately, my husband. I had been married to him for a little over a year before my brother invested his money with him. Things started falling apart with his investment scams another year after that. I have learned in the last 6 months that nearly everything I knew about him was a lie.
He won me over when I was dating him because he treated me better than anyone else did. He was always thoughtful and respectful. This is part of his act, he’s a chameleon, and he somehow instinctively knows what people want and becomes that.
Being married to him, I met and got to know other people that he was investing for. Some of them were his close friends that he spent time with every day. They were happy with his investments as well. He always told everyone that their accounts were liquid, they could get money out whenever they wanted. I saw this happen. They would ask to get money out, a few days later he would give them a check. In fact this is how we knew that something was wrong, suddenly people started having trouble getting money out of their accounts. My brother and my father, who had also invested some money with him, became suspicious at this point. But I wasn’t, yet. He never dropped the act, even at home, he got up every day to check on his investment accounts, acted the part of a concerned investor. Told me the same lies that he was telling everyone else plus more.
The con-artist is in jail now, he’s currently facing charges for similar scams that he had done before I had met him and a new case for the current “investors” is being built. I only know the most recent group of people that were scammed. That group includes my brother, my parents, two of his best friends, his ex-wife, a couple of newlyweds not even out of college and an elderly retired man. He did do one thing he said he would, he really did invest (ie: steal) from just friends and family. None of these people would be considered rich, they all work or worked for their money. Between them all he took 100’s of thousands.
He stole $100,000 from my brother.
All of the money from this campaign will go towards making a down payment on a house for my brother and his family. Being betrayed by someone you loved and trusted is a terrible feeling. I just hope this will help them heal from this experience. I feel ashamed that someone I was married to did this to them. I would give him the money if I had it, but by the time he was arrested there was no money left. Not only had he spent everyone’s money, he had maxed out my credit cards and my house was 3 months behind in payments.
Thank you for reading this and thank you for donating if you can. We appreciate every donation big or small. I can answer any questions you may have about the situation. Please help this family have a home again.
Organizer and beneficiary
Kristen Daniel
Organizer
Saratoga Springs, UT
Jeremiah Smith
Beneficiary