Melissa Weitz's boss was also her trusted financial adviser, but in the end, he turned out to be a conman who stole millions of dollars from her, her elderly mother and dozens of others.
"We were given no reason as to why. He told us we had to remove all of our personal belongings and be out by the end of the day, leave the key, don't answer the telephones and don't unlock the door," explained Weitz.
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That is how she found out her boss, Jason Muskey, was closing his office and she was losing her job. The financial service company's abrupt closure was just the beginning of Weitz's nightmare. A letter from Muskey told the rest of the story.
"Muskey Financial Services is under investigation by the United States Secret Service and if you have any questions to contact my attorney," read Weitz. "Shock of my life, because at that point, I realized that something had been done with the investments that I had made with Jason Muskey."
She lost $50,000, but that wasn't the worst part.
"Not only did he take from me, he took from my mother, and that's what is so difficult to get past," Weitz added.
Her mother, who was recently widowed and suffering from cardiac problems, was living on a fixed income. The money her mother had been saving for almost 40 years was gone.
"He was a man who came into our home, who sat at our kitchen table and who heard my mother's story," Weitz explained. "We found out that he had taken her money several months after she invested it, and all the statements were fraudulent, and everything was fraudulent."
In all, 26 victims lost $2 million.
"He targeted very specific people. People who he thought wouldn't fight back, couldn't fight back, maybe he thought because of the friendships that you know we would just let it go," Weitz added.
Postal inspectors say Muskey used the money to invest in a semi-pro football team, extravagant vacations and multiple homes. Officials say over a seven-year span, he was running a Ponzi scheme.
"When they would ask for payouts from time to time, he would steal from other clients to pay the clients where he already stole their money," said U.S. postal inspector Luke Caggiano.
Muskey pleaded guilty to wire fraud, aggravated ID theft and mail theft.
Meanwhile, inspectors say do your research. Weitz learned that lesson the hard way.
"He had a personal bankruptcy back in 2005 or 2006 and that would have been a red flag for me to say, 'If this gentleman can't manage his own finances, then I'm not going to allow him to finance mine,'" Weitz explained.
Her advice to everyone is to ask as many questions as you can think of before investing.