Downers Grove retiree Robert Govenat was on the computer every day, watching prices of his stocks go down.
It was November 2007, and a bear market was threatening.
"He was about to have a nervous breakdown or a heart attack," recalls his wife, Jan, a retired third-grade schoolteacher.
Over lunch at a hot dog place in Darien, a longtime friend and financial planner Algird Norkus told Govenat that he had an alternative investment for select people: It would keep the couple's principal safe and pay 13.5 percent annual interest.
Govenat went along. Eventually, the couple would lose nearly all of their life savings — $225,000. Govenat also steered his mother into what ultimately turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, and she lost more than $200,000, most of her assets.
Norkus pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud. In March, he began serving 63 months in prison. He also was ordered to pay $4.6 million in restitution to nearly 70 victims, many elderly, including Robert and Jan Govenat, and Robert's mother. His plea agreement said he commingled investors' moneys, in part to make payments to other investors and in part to benefit himself.
"Don't trust anyone," Jan Govenat, 71, said Tuesday when asked what she learned from the experience. "I can't tell you how many times I've said that to friends since this happened." She also regretted not sharing their change in investment strategy with their two adult children.
Robert Govenat, 72, gets choked up discussing what happened with the savings of his mother, now 99 and living in a retirement community. "I'm not proud of what I've done to my mom," he said last week with a quivering voice.
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Elder financial abuse in Illinois on rise
Good article. Financial abuse of the elderly is on the rise in all states.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to Robert Govenat could happen to anybody and has to many NASGA members.
We have to work even harder for reform of guardianship abuse.
Excellent article indepth reporting with suggestions people can consider to protect themselves.
ReplyDeletePredators and their prey is a fact of life that people must accept; it's important to have YOUR eyes wide open, 365 days a year.
I hope to see more on this topic as the boomer generation will be somewhere around 71 billion we're walking $ signs already with each tick of the clock the risk of becoming a target and worse yet a victim is greater.
ReplyDeleteI would like to hear about the scams that didn't work and how the target did not end up being prey.
Thanks to the Trib for putting this in the business section brilliant.