My parents don't have much of a retirement set up because my dad was self employed most of his life. After my mom's mother died, she inherited about $60k total. Three years ago she told me about some opportunity that my brother-in-law had found. I told her to do research on it and to please not do anything without contacting an attorney first. I didn't hear much about it after that. About a year later she told me that their "investment" that they had made with my brother-in-law was seeing ridiculous returns and they were going to be able to retire a few years early. I was upset that they hid it from me because "I didn't know anything about it and would have just gotten mad at them." Another year had passed and I asked her when she would be getting her money back and how much they had invested. She told me that they had given $40,000 and it should be coming back any time now. It's been 17 months since they were supposedly getting it back. About 6 months ago my sister told my mom "well wouldn't you be happy if you just got your initial investment back?" but wouldn't elaborate anymore.
My mom told me the other day that they finally stopped "asking" about it because my sister would get mad at them. My brother-in-law was not the one that pocketed the money as he put money into it as well as his parents. He signed a non-disclosure agreement that stops him from talking about what exactly it is that he sent the money off to. I asked my mom if I could see the paperwork from the investment and she told me that all she had was the receipt from the cashiers check that she sent them. To me, it sounds like they were nailed by some ponzi scheme and I don't even know if they have any actions that they can take here. I think deep down my mom knows that the money is gone but she keeps telling me that they are supposed to be getting the money back, next month. That's the same story that it has been for the past year. My mom doesn't want to ruin the relationship with my sister, as she has always been their favorite.
It breaks my heart knowing that my father had to change his line of work last year at 59 years old to an $11 an hour job, just to make ends meet. He probably won't be able to retire until he is at least 70 now, if at all ever. Fucking with me is one thing, but fucking with my parents who have worked their whole lives is something that I have a hard time coming to terms with.
TLDR: Brother-in-law got my parents to put $40k into some investment and now it looks like they aren't getting any of it back.
2 comments:
It's awful how many people have lost everything and how many people are willing to take money from people's parents and grandparents for nothing at all.
well son of a bitch! that completely blows. i bet that has really helped your relationship with your sister and her hubby as well. damn. dunno what to say, it sux and you are right, more and more people are getting taken by this crap - intelligent people too. Sorry to hear this.
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