A Florida woman who recently married her 77-year-old husband has been taken into custody after she was accused of trying to cash checks worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from her elderly husband's account, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Authorities charged Lin Helena Halfon, 26, with two counts of money laundering, fraud and exploitation of an elderly person after she attempted to cash checks from the account of her newlywed husband, Richard Rappaport, officials said.
Halfon first raised suspicions after she walked into a Tampa Amscot branch in November and tried to cash a $1 million cashier’s check. Halfon reportedly told the store's employees that she was going to use the money to purchase a $1 million yacht in Miami with her 77-year-old husband.
The employees at the check cashing store refused to cash the check, as well as three others Halfon brought in later that day. Because the checks had Rappaport's name on it, the store flagged the attempts and a criminal investigation began.
Investigators spoke with Rappaport, informing him of his new wife's attempts to cash checks from his account and he told them he wanted to give his new bride the benefit of the doubt. Rappaport also said he didn't want Halfon deported to her home country of Israel.
However, Halfon was eventually successful in cashing at least two checks, worth a combined total of about $666,000 in Orlando. Investigators reached out to Rappaport a second time on Dec. 10, asking if he felt he had been the victim of fraud and theft. Rappaport said "yes" and Halfon was arrested on Dec. 16 at the Tampa International Airport.
Rappaport is the president of Panther Medical, a company based in Tampa that distributes medical equipment, public records show.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, Halfon and Rappaport got married after receiving their marriage license in Hillsborough County on June 24. The license listed the date and location of the marriage as Aug. 21 at a county clerk's office in Sarasota.
Halfon is current in custody at the Hillsborough County jail on $1 million bail after she pleaded "not guilty" to all four charges against her during a court appearance on Monday.
A defense lawyer for Halfon told the Tampa Bay Times that: "There's a valid marriage between this couple and we look forward to bringing forward additional facts to bring clarity to this situation."
Photo: Hillsbourough County Sheriff's Office