Crime · Lawrence, NY
Corona Woman Sentenced to Four Years for $10M Elderly-Fraud Scheme
Catalina Corona, 62, of the Flushing Meadows Corona Park area in Queens, was sentenced Oct. 27 in Brooklyn federal court to 48 months in prison and ordered to pay $9.6 million in forfeiture for wire fraud against her elderly employers. Corona pleaded guilty April 8 to stealing nearly $10 million from Richard Schmeelk, a former Salomon Brothers investment banker, and his wife Priscilla at their home in Lawrence, Nassau County, where she worked as a personal assistant beginning in the early 2000s. Court filings state Corona deposited hundreds of checks made payable to herself from the victims' accounts without their knowledge until she was fired in April 2024, using funds for luxury purchases including approximately $1.1 million at Louis Vuitton and $305,000 at Apple. Schmeelk died in May 2022 at age 97; Corona continued working for his widow after his death.