A Queens personal assistant who stole nearly $10 million from the elderly couple who employed her was sentenced on Tuesday, October 27, in federal court in Brooklyn to 48 months in prison for wire fraud, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced. Catalina Corona, 62, of Corona, Queens, was also ordered to pay $9.6 million in forfeiture. She had pleaded guilty to the charge in April 2026, and US District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis imposed the sentence.

Source: US Department of Justice, Eastern District of New York

“Today's sentence holds the defendant accountable for a calculated scheme to steal nearly $10 million from her elderly employers who had entrusted her with their financial affairs for many years,” US Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said. “With complete control over the victims' accounts, the defendant was able to siphon large amounts of money at will, and on a breathtaking scale. Our Office will vigorously prosecute those who exploit vulnerable elderly victims for personal gain.” The sentence was announced with James C. Barnacle Jr., the FBI's assistant director in charge in New York.

Source: US Department of Justice, Eastern District of New York

A job that began as a secretary in the early 2000s

According to court filings and statements made in court, Corona began her professional relationship with the first victim in the early 2000s, when she served as a secretary for his company. After he passed away in May 2022, Corona continued to work as a personal assistant for his wife. While working for the couple, prosecutors say, Corona repeatedly deposited hundreds of checks written out to cash — made payable to herself — drawn on the victims' bank accounts, without their knowledge or consent. The federal criminal complaint in the case, filed in the Eastern District of New York, alleges she forged the victims' signatures on checks from their various bank accounts between 2015 and 2024, and stole funds directly from their accounts to pay off her personal credit card bills.

Source: US District Court complaint (CourtListener), E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-78

Where the money went: $1.1 million at Louis Vuitton alone

In total, Corona stole nearly $10 million, which she used to pay her credit card bills and to buy luxury items, the Justice Department said. The investigation found she had used approximately $1,117,000 of stolen funds to buy merchandise at Louis Vuitton, approximately $125,500 at Cartier, nearly $300,000 at Gucci and approximately $305,000 at Apple. Independent coverage of her guilty plea reported the same spending pattern, noting many of the transactions took place in Queens and on Long Island.

Source: US Department of Justice, Eastern District of New York

Corona hid the high-end goods bought with the stolen money in two rented storage units. Law enforcement obtained search warrants for her residence and both units and estimated there were over 300 luxury items stashed inside, prosecutors said.

Source: US Department of Justice, Eastern District of New York

How a $1,500 cheque exposed nine years of theft

The scheme ran for years before it surfaced. When Corona was first charged, prosecutors said she had also posed as one of the victims when calling the victims' bank to request information about their accounts. In April 2024, the bank called one of the victims to ask about checks written out to cash; the victim explained she never wrote checks out to cash, and the forgery was discovered. Prosecutors said Corona was not only cashing forged checks but also transferring funds directly from the victims' accounts into her own personal accounts. She was terminated in April 2024, according to the complaint, and was later indicted on wire fraud, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft charges before pleading guilty to wire fraud in April 2026.

Source: US Department of Justice, Eastern District of New York (charging release)

The victims — and why this case matters to New York families

The Justice Department's releases identify the employers only as Victim-1 and Victim-2. Independent coverage of the guilty plea named the couple as the Schmeelk family, whose accounts, Long Island News reported, Corona drew on for years while working in Queens and on Long Island. The case is a stark example of elder financial exploitation — the abuse prosecutors say is hardest to spot because the person stealing is the person the family trusted most. For diaspora families in Queens, Long Island and across New York who employ aides, drivers and personal assistants to help elderly parents, the prosecution's message was direct: complete, unsupervised control over an elderly person's bank accounts, held by one employee for many years, is exactly how a theft of this scale stays hidden.

Source: Long Island News

What happens next

Corona, listed in court records under docket No. 25-CR-78 (NGG), begins a four-year federal prison term, and the $9.6 million forfeiture order stands as the government's claim against her assets, including the luxury goods seized from the storage units. The government's case was handled by the US Attorney's General Crimes Section, with Assistant US Attorney Rebecca M. Urquiola in charge of the prosecution. No restitution figure was announced in Tuesday's release beyond the forfeiture order.

Source: US Department of Justice, Eastern District of New York