The court said Zamoras used bank accounts for each of her companies to deposit the investors’ funds and moved money back and forth between the companies. Investors were directed to make checks payable to her and to each of her companies. She co-mingled all the funds and made payments to investors from her personal account and each of her companies’ checking accounts.
Zamoras continued to tell victims that she was going to repay them in the near future, all while she was using those funds for her own benefit, to gamble, pay her own expenses and to make Ponzi payments, the court said.
“Based on the interviews with victims, it is clear that the victims did not understand that they were loaning money to Zamoras," the documents said. "The victims believed that Zamoras would and did ensure their funds were safe, so they could use those funds to pay for their retirement, or so they could leave money to their family.”
The court also noted that the investors borrowed money from a bank or from their life insurance company (using the equity in their life insurance as collateral). “Those victims not only lost the money that they entrusted to Zamoras they owed money to the bank or the life insurance company,” the sentencing documents said
Zamoras’ offense was unnecessary, the court said. “There was no good reason or justification for this offense. Zamoras acted out of greed and self-interest. Throughout this fraud scheme, Zamoras worked as an insurance agent, and she was paid for her work. She did not need to steal. She had professional work that paid well,” the court said.