Personal Assistant Gets 4 Years for Stealing Nearly $10 Million From Elderly Employers

Published Oct. 28, 2026. Case statuses are current as of that date.

Not every elder fraud starts with a stranger on the phone. Sometimes it is the trusted person who pays the bills. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn say a personal assistant who had worked for an elderly couple for about two decades used that access to take nearly $10 million, much of it spent at luxury stores.

Catalina Corona, 62, of Corona, Queens, was sentenced on Oct. 27, 2026, to 48 months in prison for wire fraud and ordered to pay $9.6 million in forfeiture, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced [1]. She pleaded guilty in April 2026 [2].

Important: Corona has pleaded guilty and been sentenced. The victims are identified in court papers only by number, and we do not identify them.

How the scheme worked, step by step

According to court filings and statements in court, as described by prosecutors [1] [2]:

1. Years of trust. Corona began working for the husband (Victim-1) in the early 2000s as a secretary at his company. After he died in May 2022, she kept working as a personal assistant for his wife (Victim-2).
2. Control of the accounts. Her job gave her what U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. called "complete control over the victims' accounts."
3. Checks to cash. She repeatedly deposited hundreds of checks written out to cash, and made payable to herself, from the couple's bank accounts without their knowledge or consent. The April release dated the conduct to about 2017 through 2024.
4. Paying her own bills. She used the money to pay her credit card bills and buy luxury goods.
5. Hiding the goods. She rented two storage units to conceal what she bought.

The criminal complaint filed in the case gives more detail. It alleged that Corona forged the couple's signatures on checks between 2015 and 2024, that she also moved money directly from their accounts to pay her personal credit cards, and that she worked for them until she was fired in April 2024 [3]. Those are allegations from the complaint; the guilty plea covered a wire fraud charge, and the dates in the government's releases differ from the complaint's.

Where the money went

Investigators found that Corona spent about $1,117,000 of stolen funds at Louis Vuitton, about $125,500 at Cartier, nearly $300,000 at Gucci and about $305,000 at Apple, prosecutors said. After search warrants at her home and the two storage units, law enforcement estimated that more than 300 luxury items were stashed in the units [1].

"With complete control over the victims' accounts, the defendant was able to siphon large amounts of money at will, and on a breathtaking scale," Nocella said. "Our Office will vigorously prosecute those who exploit vulnerable elderly victims for personal gain" [1].

The person convicted and her status

Catalina Corona, 62, of Corona, Queens. Pleaded guilty to wire fraud in April 2026. On Oct. 27, 2026, U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis sentenced her to 48 months in prison and ordered $9.6 million in forfeiture. E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-78 (NGG). The FBI's New York Field Office investigated, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca M. Urquiola prosecuted [1]. The release does not mention restitution or supervised release.

Why insider elder fraud is hard to spot

When one person handles all of an older adult's mail, banking and bills, nobody else sees the statements. Checks made out to "cash" don't name the person cashing them. And a long, trusted relationship makes family and bankers less likely to ask questions. Here, according to prosecutors, the thefts continued for about two years after the husband's death.

Red flags

These are general warning signs of this kind of scheme; not every one is alleged in this case.

• Checks written to "cash" or to the helper, especially in round or repeating amounts.
• A helper who insists on handling all statements and discourages anyone else from looking.
• Unexplained drops in balances, new credit cards, or bills paid from accounts that don't normally pay them.
• A sudden change in the helper's lifestyle, such as designer goods or expensive electronics.
• Signatures that don't look right on checks or forms.

What to do if you're targeted

1. Split duties. Have one person pay bills and a different person, or a professional, review statements every month.
2. Set up bank alerts and read-only "view" access for a trusted family member or adviser. Many banks also let customers name a "trusted contact."
3. Limit check-writing authority and avoid checks made out to cash.
4. Ask questions early. If something looks off, ask the bank for copies of cleared checks.
5. Report suspected elder financial abuse to local Adult Protective Services, local police, and the FBI at ic3.gov. The National Elder Fraud Hotline is 1-833-372-8311. You can also report fraud to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Case status (as of Oct. 28, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status	Source
Catalina Corona, 62, of Corona, Queens	U.S. District Court, E.D.N.Y. (Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis), 25-CR-78 (NGG)	Pleaded guilty April 2026 (wire fraud); sentenced Oct. 27, 2026, to 48 months and $9.6 million forfeiture	[1]

Statuses can change.

Sources

1. U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York, "Personal Assistant Sentenced to 48 Months in Prison for Massive Fraud Scheme Targeting Her Elderly Employers," Oct. 27, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/personal-assistant-sentenced-48-months-prison-massive-fraud-scheme-targeting-her
2. U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York, "Personal Assistant Pleads Guilty to Defrauding her Elderly Employers," April 8, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/personal-assistant-pleads-guilty-defrauding-her-elderly-employers
3. Criminal complaint, United States v. Catalina Corona (E.D.N.Y. 2025), via CourtListener. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.528125/gov.uscourts.nyed.528125.1.0.pdf

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