So I Married A “Ponzi Schemer”

It was the worst nightmare I could never have imagined. Only it wasn’t a dream. I had been unexpectedly thrust into a living nightmare. And it was my real and actual life.

I had gone to sleep believing I was worth $10,000,000 and woke up the next morning to discover everything was gone. All of my assets—my home, cars, furnishings, possessions, savings, investments, everything of value—was frozen; scheduled for seizure by the federal government. And the FBI and US Marshalls would be heading my way.

In that dark and terrible moment I learned that my husband, the man who for almost 20 years had been making all of my dreams (and more!) come true, had been living a double life of secrets and lies, fraud and crime; that the man I had loved and supported, talked and laughed with, slept next to and had four children with, was a sociopath: “The Mormon Madoff.”

Homeless, jobless, penniless, under scrutiny by the press and what felt like the entire world, investigated by the FBI, facing animosity from family, neighbors, friends, and strangers, and with almost no one to turn to (even my parents were dead), I was thrust into the deepest, darkest, blackest pit. I could see no way out.

Terrifying to a degree I can’t find words for. Horrifying. Humiliating. Devastating—to me, my children, and his many “clients” now victims.

Decades of lies. Crime. Divorce. Prison. So much loss. And eventually, overcoming. You know what they say: “There’s nothing as sweet as a comeback, when you are down and out, about to lose, and out of time.” (Anne Lamott)

The story of my life. Because I (unknowingly) was married to a criminal.

It happened more than 16 years ago and now that my children are grown, it’s time for the full story. Things I’ve never revealed. I share it ALL now with the hope that I might help others avoid a nightmare like the one that became my unexpected life. And to help those living an unexpected life create lives of love, resilience and unspeakable joy—finding strength through the unexpected.

Learn all about it here, and on Instragram, TikTok and YouTube: “So I Married a Ponzi Schemer.”