Peaches Stergo sentenced for scamming Holocaust survivor

Seems like a real peach.

A Florida woman who bilked an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor of his life savings was slapped with more than four years behind bars Thursday for the years-long romance scam.

Peaches Stergo, 36, was sentenced by Manhattan federal Judge Edgardo Ramos, who ripped her as “unspeakably cruel” and said she’d been motivated by “greed” when she spun a web of lies for four years to siphon the octogenarian’s life savings.

Stergo in April copped to pilfering $2.8 million from the elderly man.

The scam ultimately cost him his apartment — all while the callous woman lived large on his dime, taking lavish vacations, driving a Corvette and living in a house in a gated community.

“Peaches Stergo callously defrauded an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor who was simply looking for companionship,” Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement Thursday.

“She used the millions of dollars in fraud proceeds to live a life of luxury at the victim’s expense,” Williams said, “But she did not get away with it.”

Stergo, of Champions Gate, Fla., met the elderly man on a dating site, and from 2017 through 2021 slowly drained him for all he was worth.

She first falsely told the victim she needed to borrow money to pay a personal injury lawyer who she claimed was withholding money from a settlement she’d won as collateral, prosecutors alleged.

Stergo then claimed that if the victim didn’t deposit more money into her bank accounts, they’d be frozen and she would never be able to pay him back, the feds claimed.

She bolstered the lie by creating a fake email address from a TD Bank employee, and sent the victim phony invoices and letters from the bogus account.

Meanwhile, the heartless crook bought over 100 luxury items, including designer clothes, purses and jewelry from companies like Tiffany, Louis Vuitton and Hermes.

She purchased Rolex watches — and even bought gold coins and bars with the stolen money.

Stergo also bought a condo, a boat and other cars with the stolen funds, stayed at the Ritz Carlton on a vacation and spent tens of thousands of dollars on pricey meals.

When the funds dried up, she brazenly griped about having to get a real job.

“I am just aggravated hurt frustrated that I haven’t made money … I don’t want to work … it’s too hard,” Stergo wrote in a text message.

She referred to her scam as her “business.”

And after the victim told her he loved her, she joked to her real boyfriend that her con had worked, the feds claimed.

In addition to the four years-and-three-months in prison, Stergo must pay over $5.6 million in restitution and forfeitures and must use the possessions she bought with the ill-gotten gains to go toward working off her tab.

Stergo’s lawyer Ann Fitz said she was happy that the judge imposed the low end of what the federal guidelines range recommended her client be sentenced to.

“We’re happy that the court did not impose the 96 month sentence sought by the government and, instead, sentenced Ms. Stergo to the low-end of the guidelines range,” Fitz said.