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Dumont Tax Preparer Fleeced Family Of $200,000, Authorities Charge

DUMONT, N.J. – A tax preparer from Dumont swindled a family out of $200,000, said authorities who arrested him Tuesday.

Stephen Adler

Stephen Adler

Photo Credit: MUGSHOT: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR

Stephen Adler, 75, “misappropriated the victims’ money for his own personal use," Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Dennis Calo said.

Calo said members of his Financial Crimes Unit last June “received a complaint from a family who had lost approximately $200,000 in what they believed to be an investment scheme operated by their tax preparer.”

Between 2014 and 2015, he said, Adler “persuaded them to invest in what he described as a secure investment vehicle [that] would guarantee their principle investments and pay them monthly dividends.

“After paying small dividends for a few months, Adler reported to the victims that he had made bad investments and lost all of their money” -- when, in fact, he'd used it for himself, the prosecutor said.

Adler was released pending an April 11 first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack on theft by deception charges.

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