How My Family Lost $6.5 Million in Property and Savings Because of Charles Schwab's Failure to Act
My father, a lifelong scientist, invested with Charles Schwab for decades. He had several million dollars in investments and earned over $150,000 per year in interest income -- which he lived on. He never touched the principal except on two rare occasions. When needed, he would borrow against our family homes in Marin County or Lake Tahoe -- sometimes up to $500,000 -- instead of withdrawing from his investment accounts.
We didn't grow up wealthy. My father bought a small cabin on Donner Lake for $12,000 and our primary home in Marin County for $22,000. By the time this happened, those properties alone were worth nearly $3 million.
In 2009, my father set up a family trust and appointed Wells Fargo as trustee, specifically to ensure I would be cared for later in life due to my autism and disabilities. He even worked seven additional years, just to make sure I would be safe.
My father gave me a beautiful life. Losing him was painful. But to be defrauded -- by people we trusted to protect us -- has been a waking nightmare.
As he started showing signs of dementia, I began to notice irregularities. I tried to get help from the very people we had trusted:
* Our bookkeeper
* My father's accountant
* The Wells Fargo trust manager
* A supposed assistant working with them
But I quickly realized they weren't helping -- they were obstructing. They lied, manipulated documents, and rerouted my efforts every step of the way. When I began investigating, it became clear: each person had pocketed anywhere from $200,000 to over $1 million.
This wasn't just theft -- this was a calculated conspiracy to defraud us, with insiders controlling access to statements, communications, and bank permissions.
Ultimately, more than $3.2 million was stolen from my father's Charles Schwab account -- money he never would have touched, money meant to support me for life.
Because of this theft, we were forced to sell or lost nearly $6.5 million in property and lifetime savings.
Charles Schwab's fraud department -- including agents like Rena Meinki and Don Woosley -- failed to act when we reported this. Instead, they stalled for months, saying they were "investigating," only to later claim it was too late to recover anything.
They knew my father never wrote checks from that Schwab account. He only used Wells Fargo for disbursements. And yet, over 140 checks were processed on the Schwab account without any endorsements, destinations, or record of deposit -- most of which were completely unauthorized.
We weren't just robbed. We were betrayed -- by people who were supposed to protect us. read more