Ex-Advisor Sentenced for Bilking Woman
A former investment advisor has been sentenced to four years in prison for swindling an elderly Garden Grove woman, who is now dead, out of $603,000 that she intended to give to charity.
Stephen J. Cuccia, 41, who ran Creative Investments in Hemet, was convicted in July in Orange County Superior Court of one count of attempted grand theft and six violations of securities laws.
The biggest investor in the land deals Cuccia promoted was Helen Smith of Garden Grove, who entrusted him with money she had intended to benefit more than a dozen charities, said the prosecutor, Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Douglas Brannan. He said Cuccia took 30% of her money in fees and used much of the rest to pay interest to earlier investors.
Cuccia’s investments proved to be nearly worthless, and Smith, who invested the money in 1995, got back just $14,284 after state regulators shut down Cuccia’s company in 1996. She died in 1998 at age 85.
Superior Court Judge William Monroe, who sentenced Cuccia late Friday, also ordered Cuccia to pay more than $588,000 in restitution to Smith’s trust.
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