Silver Law Group Represents 93 year old Victim of Elder Financial Abuse

According to the Sun Sentinel, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office has charged Sultaine Valcius of Boynton Beach with fraud after taking $1.4 million from a 93 year-old man that hired her as a medical aide.

The Sun Sentinel reports Sultaine Valcius, 48, is charged with organized scheme to defraud for taking the money from her employer for at least five years.  Ms. Valcius requested the money for various reasons, including, nursing school tuition, purchasing a home as an investment property, repairing a home in Haiti that had been destroyed by an earthquake and for general financial assistance due to her husband purportedly losing his job.  However, Ms. Valcius was allegedly never enrolled in school, the house that was purchased was used as the primary residence by Ms. Valcius and her husband was never laid off from the job she claimed he had.

Ms. Valcius convinced the elderly gentleman to write her numerous checks ranging from a couple of hundreds of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars from two of his brokerage accounts maintained at two national broker/dealers.    However, even if convicted, it is unlikely that Ms. Valcius will have the adequate resources to repay the victim.

In August 2013, the Silver Law Group filed a FINRA arbitration claim on behalf of the victim seeking the recovery of the money taken by Ms. Valcius from the victim’s brokerage accounts alleging, among other things, that two national broker/dealers did not have adequate policies and procedures in place to address the issue of elder financial abuse, failed to follow up on the red flags that would have alerted them to the financial abuse being perpetrated on the client by Ms. Valcius, among other claims.

Silver Law Group is currently involved in multiple cases against brokerage firms for mismanagement of elderly investors’ accounts and/or improper conflicts of interest between the financial advisor and the customer.  We routinely work closely with estate planning attorneys to help resolve disputes between financial advisors and elderly investors and we are frequently consulted regarding the improper sale of securities or mismanagement of the portfolio by a fiduciary, trustee or other trusted advisor.  Silver Law Group has been approved multiple times by various courts to pursue claims on behalf of a guardian or other trustee of an elderly investor.

Silver Law Group represents the interests of investors who have been the victims of investment fraud or elder financial abuse.  The claims may include allegations of breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, failure to supervise, or violations of state or federal law.  If you have questions about your legal rights, please contact Scott Silver of the Silver Law Group for a free consultation at ssilver@silverlaw.com or toll free at (800) 975-4345.