PTA Moms Ponzi
Three former PTA moms from Diamond Bar elementary school are being accused of being responsible for a ponzi scheme that bilked 40 people out of $1 million.
The three women Marciela Barajas, 41, Juliana Menefee, 50, and Eva Perez, 51 were arrested on Tuesday for their connection to the scheme. They each face up to 20 counts of grand theft and securities fraud. If found guilty each woman could spend up to 20 years in jail.
Gaining the trust of their friends and neighbors at PTA meetings, the women began pitching their investment plan. Their victims believed they were investing in the AltaDena Dairy company. They were told by the PTA moms that they would have a high return on their investment because the product was sold at Disneyland, Disney hotels, and some other small retailers.
Most of the people they targeted were not of great wealth, but instead described as ‘good, hardworking people’. One person invested an incredible $208,000 to what they believed was the investment of a lifetime.
The scheme began in 2008 and continued until 2010 when some of the investors began to grow suspicious. They had not seen any of the return. When the women called a meeting to assure their investors that there a small issue preventing the immediate return of their money, someone contacted the authorities.
After an investigation of the fraud allegations, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department arrested the women.
PTA Moms Ponzi
PTA Moms Ponzi
It’s incredible to me to hear about how these women were able to defraud so many people for so much money! Most people involved with ponzi schemes utilize what they have at their disposal– charm, access to wealthy people, etc. But these women were unusual in their backgrounds in that they were able to exploit their friends and neighbors with their semi-trustworthy appearance of being ‘PTA moms’.
I can’t imagine how selfish and horrible you have to be to want to steal from other hardworking, good families. How these women justified what they were doing is beyond me. In many ponzi schemes I know that the first investors get paid off by money defrauded from later investors and so on. It doesn’t sound like these women were doing that so successfully, however.
It will be interesting to see what they end up getting convicted of. Until then, I wonder if their investors will see any sort of reimbursement?
What do you think of PTA Moms Ponzi?
