Ariel’s wealthy aunt died. When his mom went to open her safe deposit box, which was supposed to hold $300k in bonds and jewels, it was empty. The bank clerk said that it had been emptied that morning, by the aunt…
Further investigation found that it was actually a woman using his Aunt’s identity who cleaned out the box. This woman had “befriended” the aunt in the months before her death.
The tale inside reads like it fell from the pages of a pulp detective novel…
Ariel writes:
Okay, where do I begin?? Let me start with a brief synopsis of the circumstances surrounding the reason for this email.
My aunt recently passed away after battling breast cancer for several years. My aunt lived in Manhattan in a tiny apartment for many years up until her death. She was eccentric to put it lightly and probably suffered from some mental disorder that was probably never diagnosed. She also had lots of money both in the form of cash, bank accounts and stocks. During the last 8-9 months of her life, a woman came into her life and befriended my aunt. This woman is married with a child and is the CEO of a fledgling water company in NY. Somehow, during the final month of my aunt’s life (while she could no longer walk and was on heavy morphine) this woman managed to get control of many of my aunt’s assets. Bank accounts that were set aside for friends and family were suddenly transferred into this persons name. She cleaned out several safety deposit boxes while my aunt was still alive, and then cleaned out at least one after my aunt died. Oh, the original copy of my aunts will mysteriously disappeared.
This leads me to the point of this email. My aunt had at least one safety deposit box/account with Bank of America which contained $75,000 in cash + jewelry and other paperwork. The day after my aunt died, my mother arrived in New York. The first thing that she did was go to the funeral home to see her sister. After going to the funeral home she went to the Bank of America in midtown Manhattan to begin the process of closing out accounts and safety deposit boxes. Upon arriving at the Bank of America she was asked to sign into a register before she was allowed to access my aunts safety deposit box. To her shock, someone had already accessed the safety deposit box that morning. Can you guess who it was? Yes! This woman who had known my aunt for less than a year had gone into Bank of America and signed her name and noted POA (power of attorney) on the register. When my mother checked the safety deposit box, all of the cash was gone. Several pieces of jewelry were also missing, however the papers (of no financial value) were still there.
When my mother went back to the bank agent and asked who had accessed the box earlier that morning she was even more shocked by what she was told.
According to the bank agent, my aunt had been the one who came and accessed the box! My aunt who had died the night before in her apartment had walked into Bank of America and cleaned out her safety deposit box?? My mother told the agent that her sister had died the night before and that there was no way that she could have been at the bank. But, the agent insisted that the woman who came into the bank was my aunt, in fact she showed ID. My mom demanded to speak the bank manager. When she asked the Bank manager to call the police, he/she refused and put away the safety deposit register. Apparently he then called his boss and they came back and told my mother that they could no longer talk to her about this and that if she wanted access to anything, she would have to subpoena them.
Of course there was video tape of this woman entering the bank and going to the safety deposit box. However, the NYPD claims that the bank will likely never give up the video tape (if it still exists). The bank will no longer speak to my mother and clearly is trying to cover it’s a$$. It would seem like Bank of America screwed up big time by letting someone show false ID into a safety deposit box and steal $75,000 in cash + jewelry. Let’s not forget that this woman had no legal right to access this account after my aunt died. The law states that power of attorney ends when the person dies. Since my aunt died the night before, this woman had no legal power, yet she still wrote POA on the register.
So what do we do here? Do we cause a huge stink? The NYPD said good luck in trying to get Bank of America to admit fault. In fact, good luck trying to sue them in court. This woman who committed forgery, identity theft, and grand theft larceny is sitting pretty in her apartment in Manhattan counting the nearly $300,000 in cash and jewelry that she stole from my aunt. Not only was my aunt dying, but she was on morphine and many other drugs that allowed this woman to manipulate and take advantage of her. Doesn’t Bank of America have a duty to it’s customers (alive and deceased) to protect their assets and provide adequate security measures so that the theft of $75,000 doesn’t happen? If a person walked into bank of America and stole $75,000, don’t you think the bank would be pressing charges?
Bank of America sucks! It let a woman steal my aunts money the day after my aunt died of breast cancer!
What should I do? Would should the family do?
Sincerely,
Ariel N.
Ariel, condolences for your loss. Deaths are never easy, and for this one to be surrounded by this crime must be very painful.
That said, I have two questions before posting this story.
How did you family come to know about this woman who befriended your mother?
Were any of your family around when you aunt died? If not, why not?
Ben,
Thank you for the comments. My aunt was eccentric to say the least. Her passing was not a surprise in itself except for the fact that my mother was going to visit her just as she passed away.
To answer your questions…
My mother actually met this woman several months ago while she was in New York visiting with my aunt. As things have unravelled we have spoken to many of my Aunt’s friends who all have talked about this woman who came into her life late in the game. This woman is the daughter of an attorney (prominent) that my aunt dated years ago. According to my aunt, she didn’t know this woman more than casually during that period.
None of the family was with my aunt when she passed away. There were at least two people in her apartment when she passed away in addition to the paramedics and police. One was one of the caretakers (whom I believe called 911) and the other was this woman who eventually stole much of my aunt’s money. This woman grabbed (according to witnesses) my aunts camcorder (and stole it) and videotaped my aunt in her soiled underwear as the paramedics were administering CPR. One of the police officers at the scene actually had to forcibly tell this woman to stop recording the death. My mother was apparently on the phone with one of the two women as this was going on screaming that there was a DNR for my aunt. To date, the woman who stole the money and took advantage of my aunt will not return the money, tape, camera or jewelry. My mother arrived in New York the day after my aunt passed away which is also the same day that this woman went and cleared out the safety deposit box a Bank of America.
I hope this is useful. This could be a story about elder abuse among other things, but I (and my family) are extremely angry with Bank of America for letting this woman who had no legal right, to access my aunt’s safety deposit box and steal $75,000 in cash and jewelry.
Sincerely,
Ariel
We spoke with Ariel by phone and yes, the family already took the case to the police. However, the detective ruled that it was a civil affair, not a criminal.
We also found that the highest ranking person they spoke with was the branch manager. We advised busting BoA corporate’s door down with the story. They might have a very different story than a local manager covering his ass.
Lastly, if the aunt had renter’s insurance, it may cover the safe deposit box, even in this bizarre circumstance. We recommend checking in with the insurance company.
As an odd coda, the family knows who the conwoman is. She hasn’t denied taking any of the money, and has in fact written the family a letter saying that she “deserved” it.
Any other advice for the beleagured family? — BEN POPKEN
UPDATE: Ariel writes
Holy cow! I had no idea it would garner such a quick set of responses from your readers. It is great that people have responded with supportive comments regarding our situation. I believe that my mother (administrator of the estate) is in the process of assessing the cost to benefit ration of suing the thief. We have been told that it could cost from $30,000-$70,000 to file suit without any sort of guarantee that we will win or be able to collect if we do win.
Just to clarify, the NYPD did say that what this woman did was criminal, but due to the amount of time that had lapsed between the crime and when my mother was actually sitting in the NYPD portable would make it nearly impossible to get any evidence from BofA and therefore attempt to prosecute the thief. Perhaps it was the D.A.’s call?
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@zolielo: “Why was the cash in the deposit box?”
Many older people do this; some have depression-era distrust of banks; many prefer to have a certain amount of PHYSICAL cash on hand, not trusting the bank statement to not magically disappear into the electronic ether.
Frankly the deposit box is one of the more normal places I’ve seen stashed cash. I’ve had clients with it attached to the back of a painting, or sewn in a hem of something they don’t wear, or in the classic coffee can. And I’m sure many, many odder places they don’t tell their lawyer about. Or their kids. So it comes as quite a shock to the folks in charge of clearing out the house when they find it. (And then sometimes steal it.)
@akyiba:
This is precisely why many banks have extremely tight policies regarding POA. But the supposed charge here is identity theft, which is why her having POA really doesn’t make a difference. There are too many inconsistencies and/or unexplained details to actually form any opinion about this other than “that woman was a bad person.” I get the impression that there are key facts missing from the initial story.
It’s not a bad idea to have access to a certain amount of physical cash (although a SDB is not very accessible) for use during regional emergencies. Floods, tornados and other potentially large scale disasters can make it hard, even impossible to get at cash in banks (and power or phones beign down pretyt much halts credit card use these days– I haven’t seen a CC imprinter in years) at the very time when you might want a few hudred bucks on hand so you can get the hell out of dodge.
The United States Comptroller of the Currency is your friend. They regulate the banks throughout the country. I would strongly suggest writing a letter to the corporate offices of Bank of America and copying the Comptroller. Be sure to explicitly details what happened and when. Also be sure to specifically state what you want to have happen.
By the way, how long was the time lapse between when the person died and when the police were contacted? If the person dies recently, it shouldn’t be a problem.
@enm4r:
And what facts would those be? Do you suggest that I give every detail of wha has happened in such a way that I might jeopardize any case the estate might have against this woman?
There are actually two crimes involving BofA according to the NYPD. The first would be identity theft, the second would be grand theft larceny. This woman knew that POA ends at the time of death.
@ivieso:
Considering the fact that my mother is a breast cancer survivor I think that she handled the situation with her sister as well as she could. There is a lot of history between the two of them that can only be attributed to “family issues”.
My aunt was a difficult person even before her cancer. I am no quite sure whether I should be offended by you comment or just agree and say that it would have been better if one of us were living with her in her 500 square foot apartment in Manhattan where the boxes were piled so high that you could see the walls.
First of all, there a few holes in this story… Did the woman access the SAFE (not safeTY) deposit box posing as your aunt, or with a POA FOR your aunt? You contradicted yourself there at least twice. Next, I am very familiar with the process at Bank of America regarding entry to safe deposit boxes, as anyone with a box with them is, and what you described is not the proper procedure. Anyone accessing a box MUST already be on the account. Their names, signatures, and ID information is recorded on their ENTRY CARD, not a “ledger”, and EACH and EVERY time they access their box, they must present a valid photo id and sign their own, personal entry card. You cannot access one with a POA, unless the POA specifically grants you rights to that box. If a box-holder has died, anyone entering the box must present an original certificate of death ALONG with a COURT ORDER. As for entering with a false id, that might be possible if you were also able to forge the sig of the box-holder AND no one at the bank actually knew the identity of the box-holder, but it would certianly be no fault of the bank’s, as they would have been following the proper guidelines. If there is some truth to this story, I am sorry for your loss, but it has been horribly skewed, but it is my guess that the only crime here is one called “slander”.
**——–** UPDATE **——–**
My mother just got a copy of a letter (through her attorney) written
by “the woman”. Here are a few items that were mentioned in the
letter…
1. The woman in question claims that someone has told her (we don’t
know who) that my mother (or someone in the family) has made a threat
on her life and that she is going to file a restraining order against
the entire family.
2. She is claiming that if my mother reports the jewelry taken as
lost/stolen that she is committing a crime because my mother knows
where the jewelry is and therefore it is not missing.
3. She is claiming that my mother has offered to pay one of my aunt’s
friends $50-60k in exchange for testimony against her.
4. She takes a final stab at my mother by claiming that my mother
abandoned her sister during the last and “gravest” part of her illness. (my mother was scheduled to arrive in New York to attend to my sister, sadly my aunt died the night before she arrived)
@lotusblossom:
I find it interesting that you would take this tone. Have you ever illegally accessed somone’s safety deposit box before? You know the old saying that “laws are for people who follow them”?
As to the “holes” that you pointed out… what I have written about is exactly what I have been told by my mother and what I saw/did/heard first hand while I was in New York cleaning out my aunt’s apartment.
The woman in question walked into BofA and was able to access my aunt’s saftey deposit box by walking in and showing an ID and signing her name. I have no idea whether or not BofA uses a ledger, a card, a registery, or a man with a stamp. What I do know is that one of the BofA employees insisted that my aunt had been at the BofA earlier that morning (the day after she died) and accessed the safety deposit box.
You are also making an assumption that all BofA branches follow procedure 100% of the time. You also seem to think that BofA is infallible. This woman did not have a death certificate. Those were not available at the time that this woman cleaned out the saftey deposit box.
Oh… and slander only applies when what you are saying isn’t true. Like it wouldn’t be slander if I called you a jerk.
@arieln:
I think it’s very clear that, at the very least, there is key information lacking. I don’t know what you saw/did/heard, and this may be extremely reflective of that. Still, there is obviously more information necessary before anyone can even understand what exactly is going on (Is it identity theft? or is it negligence? Fraud? Elderly abuse?) and it would be wrong to all throw our arms up and picket BoA with such important questions unanswered.
I have accessed (legally) more than one safe deposit box, BoA included, and I find it hard to believe that even a team that was relaxed on the access proceedures would let someone sign a different name than they presented in the form of ID, and that they simply did not care and could not show with clarity who had access to the box at precisely the times in question. Please continue to update, as the facts come to light.
@arieln:
To be the administrator of the estate, the woman would have to receive an order from the Surrogate’s Court appointing her as such and she was unlikely to get them within a few hours of the person’s death. More importantly, it’s absolutely not true that
“NY law only protects elder (apparently) people who unable to make sound decisions only after the person has been declared such by no less than 3 doctors and a judge.”
There is no “3 doctor” rule at all. There is a proceeding necessary to protect people from having their families hijack them, but there is no magic number. The process is rather straightforward – it’s called a guardianship proceeding.
@LukeD:
Luke, since my first response got lost in cyberspace, let me try this again.
1. My aunt probably did want her to have “some” money. Not all of it.
2. Let’ see… “If this woman was stealing the bank then im sure she would take everything of value…” Really? Did you come up with that one by yourself? Let’s see. What she left had little value, but the $75k in cash seemed to be enough for her. I guess she wasn’t totally greedy! Gee… you managed to find some good in this woman! She is your kinda gal eh?
3. How do you know how much time I, or my family members spent with my aunt? How do you know we did nothing? Do you know something I don’t?
4. Yes my aunt left me some money. She also left money for some of her closest friends. However, since much of that money is now in the posession of this woman I doubt they will get it. My mother trying to get the money back so she can fufill my aunt’s wishes is truly a greedy thing.
5. You say you respect this woman for caring for my aunt in her dying days. At what point did I state that this woman took care of my aunt? Again, do you know something I don’t?
6. My mother was scheduled to fly out to NY to visit her sister. Sadly, my aunt died the night before my mom was to arrive in NY. Hmm… I guess if my mom travelled back in time, she could arrive before my aunt died. Wow! Can we borrow your time machine?
Luke. How do you like the view from up there on your horse (pony)? Gee whiz! Your words of wisdom have proven two things.
1. Not every Consumerist reader is intelligent
2. You are made an ass of yourself without trying. Now that takes skill!
@LawyerontheDL:
Interesting. The NYPD detective told my mother and I (yes in person) that there needed to be 3 findings (by Dr.’s) and a judge in order for my aunt to be ruled unable to make sound decisions.
Perhaps I should have my mother contact the NYPD again.
@enm4r:
You find it hard to believe that BofA would be so lax? How do you think my mother felt when she went into BofA (after having been to the funeral home) and they told her that her sister had just been in the bank!
Some thoughts…
If it were up to me (and it isn’t), I would…
1. Sue Bof A
2. Sue the woman who manipulated and stole from my aunt
3. Press charges against this woman
4. Press charges against the other people who stole from my aunt as she was dying (yes there were others, but they took much less than $250-300k)
But, since I am not the administrator of the estate I don’t have any legal right to pursue these things in court (I think). Besides, my mother would be very angry if I tried to do that kind of thing(s) without her consent.
and…
1. Yes I am angry that this woman stole from my aunt
2. Yes I am angry that there is less (much less) money to go around
3. Yes I wish that we had done more for my aunt
4. Yes I wish I could have forced my aunt to listen to her Doctors when she was first diagnosed. Maybe things would have turned out differently
5. I am not surprised that this woman is now claiming to have heard that a threat has been made on her life and is not filing for a restraining order. Her father was an attorney, she conducts herself in a way that would make it seem like she has done this before.
6. Yes I have actually spoken on the phone with this woman. Either she genuinely believes that she is doing the right thing (by taking all of the money earmarked for others and keeping for herself) or she is a greedy thief who took advantage of a dying womans fears and trust.
@Eyebrows McGee: Thank you for the reply I thought might be the case. Foolish…
i wouldn’t worry too much about the tape being destroyed. almost all financial institutions have digital recording systems in place now…they can almost certainly call up any date over the last year or more. in larger banks, this isn’t even controlled at branch level – they may have a regional security office that could access this information for you.
also, if this woman signed as POA, the bank should have a copy of the POA on file. if it were me, i would like to see if that truly exists.
finally, sorry for your loss. i experienced a similar issue on a much smaller scale when my grandmother died. it’s sad that the greatness of a person is lost in instances such as this.
my mom has the right idea: don’t save things for people until after you die. give it to them while you are still alive & watch them enjoy it. pass on with enough money in the bank to pay for your final services.
Get one of those, if we win…you win lawyers…..
Then you have no loss if you loose…..
Its sounds like an easy case, in the absence of a will, all possesions to next of kin, or closes living relative….
Thanks for the info, i should probably cancel ALL my lasalle accounts and transfer my student loans and morgate away from BOA….
@shdwsclan:
Actually there was a will. However the original mysteriously disappeared sometime in late November.
Since the State of NY doesn’t recognize a copy of a will (which my mother had) she had to petition the state to become the administrator of the estate.
Yes my original Consumerist name is Hackoff. Arieln came about after the posting about my family’s experience with BofA and the woman who took the money and jewelry.
@arieln
If by “slander”, you mean *Slander is a spoken defamation. Defamation or “defamation of character,” is spoken or written words that falsely and negatively reflect on a living person’s reputation.* or *The common law origins of defamation lie in the torts of slander (harmful statement in a transitory form, especially speech) and libel (harmful statement in a fixed medium, especially writing but also a picture, sign, or electronic broadcast), each of which gives a common law right of action.* then you would be right. You would also be guilty by relaying the information as you have, without having facts to support your statements. If you are simply repeating what your mother said, and it is your mother’s story that sounds wishy-washy, then one would think that the responsible adult would gather his own information prior to spreading rumors. If you did no research on this yourself, then how do you know it is not slander? You are… um… “brave” (irresponsible?) to make such a bold and defamatory statement based upon, admittedly, second-hand information.
If by “jerk”, you mean someone intolerant of ignorance or immaturity (like stooping to the very adult level of name-calling), then I would be said jerk! And proud of it.
I have to wonder if it has ever occurred to you that your aunt, in her state of loneliness, actually added this woman to her account? If that is the case, then the bank would not only be innocent of error or negligence, but would be following their Privacy Policy by not sharing that information with you OR your mother, since their obligation is to ensure the privacy of their current customer… unfortunately in this situation, that would be your con artist.
Perhaps you should focus on the actions of this woman, rather than the SUPPOSED actions of Bank of America?
Even as an indifferent party, I still cannot help but wonder where your aunt’s loved ones were while she was developing this bond with this con artist?? (This statement, by the way, is PURELY rhetorical.)
Now, excuse me as I go off to assuage my bruised ego.
Ariel,
Contact me if you want. I’m a reporter at Forbes magazine. Maybe I can help. Interested to know what company this woman runs and whether she’s done this before.
Pbeller@forbes.com
Something seems fishy about this post. There’s probably some really important facts missing, and I still don’t understand why she used PoA if she was impersonating the actual owner of the box. That probably would have caught someone’s attention.
Here is my issue, why weren’t any of Ariel’s family with the aunt while she was sick or when she died?
That is what family is for! Ariel seems pissed that she missed out on what she was “untitled” to, but what was her Aunt entitled to? One would think that the aunt would have wanted to be near someone who cared for her and saw after her needs.
Family does not have to be blood and by no means does it mandate entitlement.
Ariel and her family deserve nothing from the Aunt. It seems nothing is all they gave her.
@LAGirl: Why did you8r sister wait to go to your fathers until the day after he died? Another example of people misplaced sense of entitlement.
Take the law into your own hands. Do whatever it takes to get that money back. Then let the woman sue you and prove that she is entitled to the money.