'Heir' gets jail term for role in $1.7M scam

In mid-2008, when a Fort Lauderdale man began to have nagging doubts that a purported heiress to a $2 billion estate was ill, he met her at a restaurant.

The man, Tim Kennedy, told a federal judge yesterday that the woman, Bari Lynn Berger, was seated at a table next to an oxygen tank with tubes in her nostrils and a female nurse in scrubs by her side.

Kennedy, 75, testified that he had given Berger money to help her with what he believed were unspecified medical issues.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Kornylak said the meeting proved to be the "critical moment" in a scam that fleeced more than 140 investors of almost $1.7 million between January 2008 and January 2009.

Berger, 68, of Durham, N.C., was sentenced to five years in a federal lockup yesterday, ordered to pay $1.7 million in restitution and surrender to the Bureau of Prisons in 30 days.

Prosecutors said that about 40 Philadelphia-area individuals were victims. Authorities said that Berger and co-defendant Gerald Radomski targeted wealthy, elderly people interested in get-rich-quick investment schemes.

But some victims, like Kennedy, were simply donors trying to assist somebody they thought needed help. Others expected to get a hefty return on their investment.

The scam was peddled that Berger was the illegitimate daughter of a billionaire who had disapproved of her lifestyle. She said that her father's will stipulated that she could not inherit any of the nest egg until she was financially stable and got routine medical care.

Victims were told that if they helped Berger get back on her feet, she would repay them with a "gift" from the estate. For every $1 contributed, Berger would repay them $100, which was later increased to $1,000. But there was no fortune.

One victim, Paul Nyce, 71, of Morton, Delaware County, told the court yesterday he had lost $66,000 in the scam. He said that he got involved because he wanted to be able to afford better nursing care for his 92-year-old mother. Nyce said that he felt like he had been the victim of a "holdup, only [Berger] didn't use a weapon," adding, "she deserves to suffer every day."

Kornylak said that Radomski kept about $300,000 and turned over at least $1.2 million to Berger. She allegedly spent $800,000 of the funds on jewelry, wigs, sunglasses, pet-store supplies, an RV and several motorcycles.

Berger admitted yesterday that she "got carried away" but "didn't know about everything" that went on. "Saying sorry doesn't help but I am," she said, adding that she gave much of the money to needy people.

U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe wasn't impressed. "Ms. Berger thought she was doing good with her ill-gotten gains. That may help your conscience but it doesn't help your victims."