Three psychic scammers swindled an attorney out of hundreds of thousands of dollars before their gig is up.
Workers’ compensation attorney, Stacey Tokunaga, who practices both in Nevada and California probably wouldn’t have sought out psychic advice had he been able to predict what would happen next. The lawyer responded to a flyer for psychic readings and was subsequently suckered out of $1.5 million by two scammers who said she “had to pay them to clear her chakras and eliminate her bad karma,” according to authorities.
The pair of fake psychic readers have been charged in Las Vegas in the months-long scheme to take money from unsuspecting victims looking for insight into the future, and a criminal complaint is pending against a third person. Sherry Marks, 52, and David Marks, 48, are charged with “conspiracy, extortion, and four counts of obtaining money under false pretenses,” according to court records. Prosecutors were given until early June to file a criminal complaint against Marks’ 32-year-old daughter, Peaches Marks, who they say was also involved.
After Tokunaga agreed to pay the fee to balance out for chakras, she was told by the scammers she needed a “white singing bowl to clear her energies,” court records stated. That specific white bowl along with a journal to document the session, would cost her $30,000. She paid it. Investigators in the case would later find a similar bowl and journal on Amazon for $18.
Next, the “psychics” offered Tokunaga a black cloth and instructed the attorney to place is over a Mason jar filled with water and slide it under her bed. She was to keep it there while she slept. This was to further eliminate her supposed “bad karma.” Tokunaga woke up and the water had actually turned red. She immediately called the psychics’ number, and she was told that in order to “fix the rooted evil in her bloodline,” she would have to “trace it back to fix all of (her) problems.”
In late 2017, Sherry Marks, using the alias Paula Williams, told Tokunaga that her “life was in jeopardy,” and said she needed to make “cash payments incessantly,” collecting upward of $500,000 that Tokunaga pulled from her firm’s coffers and a line of credit. Investigators would discover that Sherry Marks and Peaches Marks spent that money on lavish shopping sprees that included jewelry, clothing, and other luxury items.
From there, Tokunaga, convinced that she had to rid evil from her bloodline, agreed to finance a trip for David Marks to New Orleans. She was also instructed to “pay for two BMWs, make cash payments; and turn over her credit card to Sherry Marks,” according to the police report.
By May 2018, Tokunaga had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, putting her business in jeopardy. In essence, she had ushered actual bad karma into her life. In June of that year, the scammers told the attorney, “Your dad says he’s sorry he didn’t believe in you when you were a kid and he feels really bad.”
Peaches Marks has apparently been taken into custody but is denying she is the same Peaches Marks involved in the scheme, which is why her charges have been delayed. She has repeatedly said they have the wrong person in custody and needs to be realased.
Sources:
3 charged in Las Vegas swindle that scammed attorney out of $1.5M
2 charged in psychic scam; police say lawyer was swindled out of $1.5M
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