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Rose Marks (born 1951) is the matriarch of a family of fraudulent psychics convicted of federal crimes in 2013 in Florida.〔〔〔〔〔 Marks and members of her extended family operated multiple storefront businesses, four in Broward County, Florida one of which was in Fort Lauderdale, named "Astrology Life" and one in Manhattan on W. 58th Street near Central Park.〔〔〔 They told vulnerable clients that the only solution to their problems was to give the purported psychics money.〔 Prior to this case there was doubt that a psychic could be criminally charged.〔 Jurors were told that fortune-telling is constitutionally protected free speech, but federal prosecutors contended Marks engaged in fraud by promising to keep clients money safe, "cleanse" it and return it when she had no intention of returning it.〔 The case drew widespread coverage.〔 Charles Stack, a retired Fort Lauderdale police detective, said the case and the ensuing publicity brought attention to predatory and fraudulent fortune tellers.〔〔 The family amassed a fortune estimated at between $25 and $40 million.〔〔 Defense attorney Fred Schwartz said the federal government seized Marks' family assets including cars, motorcycles, a boat, gold, jewelry and a home near the Intracoastal Waterway.〔 In 2014, Marks was sentenced over 10 years in prison for defrauding clients of her family's fortune-telling businesses out of more than $17.8 million. ==Family background== According to Paula McMahon, staff writer for the ''Sun-Sentinel'' newspaper, the family are Vlax Roma, the largest Gyspy group in the US. McMahon states members of this group "traditionally drop out of school when they are 8 or 9 years old" and that "Mothers train daughters to develop what they call 'psychic' or 'intuitive' powers."〔 This training was presented by both prosecutors and the defense during Rose Marks' trial.〔 Schwarz said Marks began working at the age of 8 or 9.〔 The Marks family immigrated from Greece in the late 19th or early 20th century. Although adhering to Romani cultures and beliefs, like the payment of dowries and arranged marriages, they also worked to assimilate into American life. In an interview with McMahon, Rose Marks said her father was Steve "Boyo" Eli, a land owner and Romani judge. According to Marks, he mediated land, inheritance, divorce and dowry disputes in the Gypsy community near Newark, New Jersey. Marks attended public school until she dropped out in the third grade. She was married in an arranged marriage at 16 or 17 years old, living in Virginia until moving to Broward County in 1998. Marks and her late husband opened the store in Manhattan.〔 The family was identified as relatives of the late Gypsy leader, Jimmy Marks of Spokane, Washington by the New York ''Daily News''.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rose Marks」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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