The statistics are sobering: Small-time “Ma-and-Pa” scammers and family members are preying in ever-larger numbers on senior citizens who are lonely and losing the ability to recognize that they are being exploited.
Nearly one in 20 adults can expect to be milked financially after the age of 60, according to a 2017 study by Cornell University and the Toronto-based York University, which found that increased atrophy and less connectivity in the brain makes otherwise healthy senior citizens more susceptible to con artists’ schemes.
Here in Illinois, the state is falling short when it comes to protecting its older residents, a recent Injustice Watch investigation found.
One particularly alarming case involves a former Citi — or Citibank — executive’s alleged ploy targeting the elderly, using the sheen and reputation of a 200-plus-year-old business to fleece her victims.
What’s especially frightening: The red flags don’t go off, even among the more skeptical, when the person handling a loved one’s money is a wealth adviser and a vice president of the Chicago offices of America’s third-largest bank. In fact, customers and their relatives are likely to believe they are in good hands in such cases.
Yet Helen Grace Caldwell apparently used that false sense of security to coax some of her elderly clients into investing their savings in the horror films she produced as a side hustle, eventually sparking a lawsuit by the Cook County public guardian’s office.
Though on a much smaller scale, the accusations against Caldwell echo the antics of Charles Keating Jr., who was convicted in the early 1990s of defrauding millions from the elderly as chief of failed Lincoln Savings & Loan.
Remember that “the weak, meek and ignorant are always good targets,” reads a Lincoln memo that surfaced years later.
Caldwell seemed to live by that unethical mantra, according to the public guardian’s lawsuit against her and Citi.
Caldwell has so far avoided criminal charges, but she has been barred by the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority from working in the securities industry because she refused to provide on-the-record testimony about steering Citi clients “to invest in her outside business activity,” as David Jackson of Injustice Watch reported in a story that was published in the Aug. 20 edition of the Sun-Times.
Would state investigators make a difference?
That story, and the stories of all the other Illinois seniors who collectively were swindled out of a record $75.9 million last year — a stark increase from $5 million in 2014 — provide strong evidence of the need for reform.
Illinois saves money by relying on social service contractors to investigate potential cases of elder financial abuse. We’re mindful of the need to keep a tight watch on state spending, but most states have their own government investigators. It’s not hard to believe that top officials and administrators could perhaps keep better track of investigations done in-house, rather than by outside contractors.
The state’s Department on Aging’s Adult Protective Services division initially balked at looking into Citi’s report on Caldwell’s activities because no one was “being exploited by a family member, roommate or caregiver,” according to probate court documents.
But six weeks later, when a second Citi report mentioned $7,000 in misspending, an investigator looked into the matter. That finally led to the public guardian’s lawsuit, which accuses Caldwell of taking advantage of at least four people, including 77-year-old Priscilla Eddings, a retired nurse who court records show wrote 13 checks worth $400,500 for Caldwell’s film projects between 2018 and 2020. Another woman, Catherine Duenas, gave Caldwell $18,000 for a 16% stake in a movie company Caldwell helped finance.
Citi claims it is not at fault for Caldwell’s alleged actions, yet it annually approved her outside film company business and pursued a legal battle to keep its internal investigation of Caldwell under wraps.
What family, friends can do
Not every senior citizen has a trusted advocate or relative to help him or her determine if they’re being duped. Those with older loved ones should get in the habit of asking questions and reminding them to never give out financial account information.
Alarm bells should go off if a so-called professional “is asking you to invest, give money or spend” on something that is a personal project, says Teresa Jones, associate state director of advocacy and outreach at AARP Illinois.
Family or friends can also make an effort to accompany senior citizens to appointments where they will be making major financial decisions, including withdrawing large amounts of money. Doing so can keep them from being scammed by someone who may be using their job as a cover for a scam, Jones said.
Caldwell was producing films that scared audiences.
But the scams she and others allegedly committed were a real-life nightmare for the seniors who entrusted them with their savings.
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