Revere Woman Indicted in Alleged Romance and Investment Fraud That Cost 85-Year-Old Victim Over $1 Million
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts announced that Maria Auxiliadora Rezende, 66, of Revere, Massachusetts, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of wire fraud in connection with an alleged romance and investment fraud scheme. Rezende was arrested and charged by criminal complaint on November 10, 2026.
According to the charging documents, Rezende allegedly entered a romantic relationship with an 85-year-old Massachusetts victim who has health and memory issues. Prosecutors allege she led the victim to believe she stood to inherit farmland in Brazil and that he could profit from the farmland if he helped her pay a purported Brazilian inheritance tax and associated legal fees. In fact, the farmland, the inheritance tax, the lawyers and the legal fees did not exist, prosecutors said. The victim sent Rezende and her associates more than $1 million as a result of the alleged fraud.
The wire fraud charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. The case was announced by U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley and Thomas Demeo of IRS Criminal Investigation in Boston, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations in New England and the U.S. Secret Service in Boston. An indictment is an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. (Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts)
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国国税局 IRS 本部大楼宪法大道入口立面（固定图库联邦核心包，本案由国税局刑事调查局波士顿办公室宣布）。Carol M. Highsmith 摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Entrance facade of the Internal Revenue Service headquarters building on Constitution Avenue (GSM federal-core asset pack; IRS Criminal Investigation, Boston, announced this case). Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
