FBI: Palatine man scammed out of $4.5 million helps capture suspect

A Costa Rican woman who authorities say scammed an 87-year-old Palatine man out of nearly $4.5 million over the last six years was captured by the FBI in New York last week when she flew to the U.S. hoping to collect $3.7 million more from the victim, according to federal court documents.

Corinne Dziesiuta, a 38-year-old former New Jersey resident who has lived in Costa Rica since 2010, faces federal mail and wire fraud charges stemming from the scheme, according to court documents unsealed this month.

The Palatine man, who is identified in the nine-page criminal complaint as Victim A, had been paying money to Dziesiuta and her associates in Costa Rica since May 2010, authorities say. Either Dziesiuta or one of her associates called the victim then and told him he had won millions of dollars in a sweepstakes, but the prize money was in foreign countries and he needed to pay insurance, taxes and other fees to receive the winnings, court documents state.

According to an FBI special agent's affidavit, Dziesiuta told the victim that her name was "Lisa Conti," she lived in New York City and worked for the federal government.

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