‘Romance scam’ woman who stole $2.8m from Holocaust survivor jailed

Peaches Stergo, 36, handed four-year prison term after pleading guilty to charges she swindled 88-year-old man in New York

A Florida woman who stole nearly $3m from a Holocaust survivor through what authorities described as a romance scam must serve more than four years in prison, a federal judge ruled.

Peaches Stergo, 36, received her sentence on Thursday in federal court in Manhattan, after pleading guilty to wire fraud in April. She was arrested in January on charges that she stole $2.8m from an 88-year-old man who, investigators said, fell for a prolonged ruse which ended in 2021.