Deceit Costs Family Nearly ¾ of a Million Dollars

Family swindled by would be lawyer/accountant.

By Leesa Bingham, Marketing –

A decade ago, a woman in Montana was looking to sell her family farm and wanted some financial advice. She hired Michael VanAuken, who claimed to be a lawyer and an accountant. Between 2011 and 2015, he told the family that he was investing their money, and that the investments were profitable. He even produced documents that seemed to prove his skill and credibility.

However, after several years, the woman in Montana noticed some odd behavior on the part of VanAuken. She went to the FBI, and they began to investigate. Soon the FBI discovered that VanAuken had stolen over $700,000 from the Montana woman and her family, including retirement funds that had belonged to her parents and were supposed to be passed to her children. Not only had VanAuken stolen money, but he had placed much of it toward poor investments such as foreign currency exchange trading.

A new technology called EyeDetect® has the potential to uncover the nuances of cases like this Montana woman’s. Using a scanner that takes measurements of the iris while a person answers a series of yes or no questions, EyeDetect can detect lies with up to 90% accuracy, and is already being used by law enforcement in some states. The FBI could use EyeDetect to uncover fraudulent past activities committed by persons such as VanAuken.

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Photo by /Marten Bjork