Elana Cohen-Roth, 81, Sentenced to 12 Years State Prison for Defrauding Elder Victim of Her Life Savings

Defendant Elana Cohen-Roth, an 81-year-old retired IRS agent of Marina Del Rey, California was sentenced yesterday by the Honorable Paige Hein to 12 years in state prison. This sentence follows a jury convicting Cohen-Roth of 23 felony offenses related to the methodical defrauding of an elderly victim of her entire life savings over a seven-year period.

District Attorney Carla Rodriguez stated, “The victim’s years of hard work and lifetime savings are gone due to Ms. Cohen-Roth’s greed. Unfortunately, the victim will never be made whole financially and her life is forever impacted. The judge’s sentence is entirely appropriate and hopefully will provide some measure of justice for the victim.”

The charges resulted from Elana Cohen-Roth exploiting a professional and personal relationship she had with an elderly Sonoma County resident over a seven-year period. Cohen-Roth, a retired IRS agent and professional tax preparer, began preparing the then 66-year-old victim’s taxes in 2013. They quickly became good friends. From their personal and professional relationship, Cohen-Roth gained access to all the victim’s financial information. Cohen-Roth told the victim that while her investments were making some money, she could earn far more by investing with her. Cohen-Roth told the victim she would invest it in some type of real estate deal where she could earn at least 10% interest at “no risk.” Based on Cohen-Roth’s credentials and their friendship, the victim completely trusted Cohen-Roth’s financial advice.  

From December 2013 through September 2019, Cohen-Roth extended “investment opportunities” to the victim on over 20 different occasions. Dollar amounts ranged from $25,000 to $150,000 each and all carried the same promise of at least 10% interest at “no risk.” On each occasion the victim liquidated money from her legitimate investments and wired it to Cohen-Roth, believing that Cohen-Roth was investing on her behalf.

Cohen-Roth’s bank records revealed that she was running a sophisticated Ponzi scheme where other “investors” also deposited large sums into her account. Cohen-Roth used some of the victim’s money to pay off these earlier “investors” and used the rest to support her lavish lifestyle and make gifts to family members.

By September of 2019, the victim had depleted her investment accounts and took out a reverse mortgage to send additional money to Cohen-Roth. Cohen-Roth’s Ponzi scheme collapsed in 2020 when the victim demanded a return of some of her money so that she could move to be near family. Because Cohen-Roth did not have another source to pay the victim with, the entire scheme fell apart, and the victim did not receive any of her money back. The then 73-year-old victim went from owning her own home and having around $1,000,000 in investments to live on, to being financially destitute. The elderly victim was unable to pay for her minimal daily living expenses while Elana Cohen-Roth lived comfortably on the victim’s money. The victim was devastated financially and emotionally by Cohen-Roth’s deceit: the discovery that her dear and trusted friend turned out to be a con-artist who was just using her to satisfy her own greed was heart-wrenching.

After a three-week trial, a Sonoma County jury convicted Elana Cohen-Roth of all 23 felony financial fraud charges. During the sentencing hearing Judge Hein acknowledged the severe harm Cohen-Roth’s series of calculated criminal conduct over a 7-year period had upon the victim’s physical and emotional health. Judge Hein sentenced 81-year-old Elana Cohen-Roth to the middle term of 12 years in state prison, rather than the maximum term of 28, because of Cohen-Roth’s age.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Marianna Green, assisted by District Attorney Investigators Dave Kahl and Robyn Fuentes and Santa Rosa Police Department Property Crimes Detective Jeffrey Woods, who headed the investigation.

Contact Information