A Fort Lauderdale psychic family swindled clients, including a bestselling novelist, out of $17.8 million
Rose Marks, 62, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, ran a family fortune-telling business operating storefronts in Fort Lauderdale and New York City under names including "Joyce Michael." She and eight family members were arrested in August 2011 after an FBI investigation known as "Operation Crystal Ball." A federal jury convicted Marks on September 8, 2013, after a month-long trial, on 14 counts including conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and filing false tax returns. Prosecutors documented that clients lost more than $17.8 million. Her highest-profile victim, bestselling romance novelist Jude Deveraux, testified that Marks convinced her she was secretly exchanging romantic messages with actor Brad Pitt and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and that Marks could transfer the soul of Deveraux's deceased 8-year-old son into another body. US District Judge Kenneth Marra sentenced Marks on March 3, 2014, to just over 10 years in federal prison. Eight other family members pleaded guilty to related, lesser charges.
- Year
- 2014
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $17.8 million
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Psychic and fortune-teller fraud
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-04
The facts, as recorded
- Rose Marks, 62, of Fort Lauderdale, ran a family-run fortune-telling business operating storefronts in Fort Lauderdale and New York City, several family members working under the name 'Joyce Michael.'
- Marks and eight family members were arrested in August 2011 following an FBI investigation named 'Operation Crystal Ball.'
- A federal jury convicted Marks on September 8, 2013, after a month-long trial, on 14 counts: conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering, and filing false tax returns.
- Prosecutors documented that victims lost more than $17.8 million, and argued the true and intended losses were significantly higher.
- Bestselling romance novelist Jude Deveraux, a client since 1991, testified that Marks convinced her she was secretly exchanging romantic emails with actor Brad Pitt and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and that Marks could transfer the soul of Deveraux's son Sam, who died in an ATV accident in October 2005 at age 8, into another person's body so the two could be reunited.
- Deveraux testified she gave Marks many millions of dollars beyond the documented $17.8 million, but told the court she had destroyed six years of additional financial records before the investigation began; the sentencing judge said he would not rely on her testimony about amounts beyond what could be independently documented.
- US District Judge Kenneth Marra sentenced Marks on March 3, 2014, to just over 10 years in federal prison, below the 22-to-27-year range prosecutors sought and above the 7.5 years the defense proposed.
- The judge said he did not believe the fraud was especially sophisticated, describing it instead as operating 'like a family tradition,' and said he could not explain why 'any rational human being would have believed' the claims made to clients.
- Eight other family members, Marks's three adult children, their spouses, a granddaughter and her sister, pleaded guilty to related, lesser charges; some received sentences including months of home confinement and probation.
- Marks apologized in court before sentencing, telling the judge: 'At the time, I didn't realize what I was doing was wrong. ... Now, I realize that I caused a lot of hurt and disappointment.'
Why this case matters
This is the largest documented fortune-telling fraud prosecution in US history and the clearest example of how a storefront psychic relationship can run for decades before anyone intervenes. Jude Deveraux was a paying client of Rose Marks for roughly two decades, not a one-time victim of a single bad reading, and the family business operated two storefronts under a shared alias for years before federal investigators built a case.
A multi-generational family operation, not a single con artist
Nine family members, Rose Marks and eight relatives across three generations, were charged together, and eight pleaded guilty. The case shows this type of fraud can function as an ongoing family business with an internal division of labor, not just an individual operator working alone.
The caveat
Rose Marks was convicted by a federal jury after a month-long trial and sentenced by a federal judge; this is a fully proven and concluded legal outcome, not an allegation. The $17.8 million figure is the loss amount prosecutors documented and the court relied on for sentencing; Deveraux’s claim of additional, undocumented losses was explicitly not used to increase Marks’s sentence, because the judge found he could not verify it independently.
People named in the public record
- Rose Marks · convicted
Sources
- Psychic Swindler Sentenced to 10 Years – Did She See It Coming?. CPA Practice Advisor. Accessed 2026-10-04. Supports: Marks's age and location, the August 2011 arrest, the trial and 14-count conviction, the $17.8 million documented loss, the March 3, 2014 sentencing to just over 10 years, the judge's quotes, Deveraux's testimony, and the other family members' guilty pleas.
- Rose Marks. Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-10-04. Supports: The 'Operation Crystal Ball' investigation name, the August 16, 2011 indictment, the September 8, 2013 conviction date, the specific 14 charges, and the family members' names and individual sentencing outcomes.