An elderly Manhattan woman who entrusted her $2 million fortune to a longtime friend is now destitute and house-bound after he fleeced her, authorities said.
Retired ballerina Doreen Vandivier Carey, 86, depends on her monthly $1,014 Social Security check to pay rent on her Sutton Place apartment after Philip Leopold, 77, of The Bronx allegedly emptied out the trust he was supposed to watch over.
“They should keep Philip in jail forever. I don’t have any good things to say about him. I just think he’s a rotten egg,” said Carey, who hasn’t left her apartment in five months because she can’t afford the home-health aide who used to help her walk outside.
Leopold, who has been charged with grand larceny and forgery, allegedly used the more than $1.6 million he’s accused of stealing to buy thousands of watches, DVDs and at least one “multicolored fog-maker,” the Manhattan DA says.
Leopold may take a plea deal Monday, said sources close to the case.
Carey said she was introduced to Leopold by a friend about 40 years ago. Then, after Carey’s husband died in the 1990s, Leopold asked her to lunch and began to care for her, taking her to the doctor and signing her checks.
Carey said Leopold convinced her to put her money into a trust at Bank of New York Mellon, then pushed her to name him and the bank as co-trustees.
“I thought he was a good friend, and I trusted him,” Carey said.
She discovered the theft in 2010 when she visited the bank. “I almost died,” she said. “When I came out of the bank I threw up. I had to sit down, I was so sick.”
Her lawyers estimate she has enough left to cover expenses for several months, after which she will live solely on Social Security.
Carey’s lawyers and the state attorney general have ripped the bank over the looting and now for filing to resign as trustee while keeping its $120,000 commission.
“The failure of the Bank of New York Mellon to carry out its fiduciary obligations as a co-trustee resulted in the massive theft of Ms. Vandivier Carey,” said Harry Burstein, one of Carey’s lawyers.
An attorney for Bank of New York Mellon declined to comment, and the attorney representing Leopold did not return a call for comment.