JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – An 85-year-old Florida widow is suing her financial advisers in federal court, alleging they failed to prevent her financial exploitation by “sophisticated scammers” and the resulting loss of more than $1.7 million of her life savings.
Plaintiff Carol Leneave of Jacksonville filed her lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
In her 48-page complaint, she alleges defendant Godsey & Gibb Inc., doing business as Godsey & Gibb Wealth Management, facilitated the elder fraud and harms she suffered. Located in Richmond, Virginia, Godsey & Gibb is a registered investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC.
Leneave seeks damages in excess of $1,761,928, plus an unknown tax liability, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees, and other costs.
“Throughout the events giving rise to this action, Defendant acted as Plaintiff’s financial advisor and thus had a contractual, fiduciary, and common law duty to, inter alia, identify and respond to indicators of elder fraud and financial exploitation and to take reasonable steps to protect Ms. Leneave from the very type of fraudulent scheme alleged herein,” the complaint states.
“Rather than fulfilling those obligations, Defendant failed to act upon clear indicia of financial exploitation and take reasonable steps to safeguard Ms. Leneave's assets, materially contributing to Plaintiff’s losses.”
Leneave points out in her lawsuit that the SEC has been warning its institutional members about the “growing threat” to elderly clients since at least 2007.
“Defendant is fully aware of this epidemic and knows that its elder accountholders are more vulnerable than other members of the public and thus require heightened support and security,” her filing states.
According to recent FBI statistics, more than 145,000 senior citizens over the age of 60 fell victim to elder fraud in 2024 alone, with their losses exceeding $4.8 billion – a 43 percent increase from the prior year.
These numbers increased significantly in 2025, with more than 200,000 individuals over the age of 60 affected by elder fraud – a nearly 40 percent increase from 2024 – and total losses exceeding $7.7 billion – about a 60 percent increase from 2024.
Leneave notes in her complaint that Godsey & Gibb, in a November 2023 publication, discussed the prevalence of elder financial exploitation and referenced the FBI’s Elder Fraud Report, thus “demonstrating its specific awareness of the vulnerability of elders.”
“Godsey & Gibb's publication did not merely acknowledge the existence of elder financial exploitation in the abstract,” her complaint states. “It specifically discussed common scam typologies used to target elderly individuals, including impersonation/support scams, demonstrating its awareness of the very types of fraudulent schemes that ultimately victimized Ms. Leneave.
“By issuing a publication about common fraud schemes targeting elderly individuals, Godsey & Gibb acknowledged that such scams were well known, foreseeable, and posed a significant risk to vulnerable clients such as Ms. Leneave.”
Leneave, in her complaint, describes herself as “unsophisticated” in financial matters. Her late husband, who passed away in 2018, managed the family’s financial affairs, including saving for retirement, overseeing the family’s investment accounts, and making short-term and long-term financial decisions.
“Through decades of careful saving and financial discipline, Plaintiff’s late husband preserved and grew their life savings into an investment portfolio valued at more than $1.7 million intended to support their retirement,” her filing states.
In March 2019, she contracted with Godsey & Gibb to have her nest egg managed by the company by way of Kevin Riley, a registered wealth management adviser.
She contends that, as an elderly and “unsophisticated” consumer, she retained and relied on the defendant to look after and protect her life savings.
“Ms. Leneave believed her life savings were protected not only by the safeguards and protections promised to her by Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. – which maintained and serviced Plaintiff’s investment accounts – but also by the individualized oversight, guidance, and protection purportedly provided by Defendant as her trusted financial advisor,” the complaint states.
In June 2024, Leneave became the target of a “sophisticated elder fraud scheme” involving individuals who falsely represented that they were affiliated with trusted institutions and that her financial accounts were at risk.
Over the four-month period that followed, the fraudsters orchestrated the liquidation of her investment portfolio through a “sustained campaign of deception and manipulation.”
The scammers allegedly directed Leneave to carry out a series of transactions that, she argues, should have been “increasingly suspicious” to the financial institutions through which the scam was orchestrated.
“Despite numerous objective indicators of elder financial exploitation, neither Schwab nor Godsey & Gibb recognized the unfolding fraud or took reasonable steps within the scope of their respective responsibilities to protect Ms. Leneave and prevent further losses,” the complaint states.
Instead, she claims Godsey & Gibb "utterly failed” in upholding its fiduciary duty.
“Schwab and Godsey & Gibb materially facilitated the fraud by, inter alia, treating extraordinary liquidation requests as routine and failing to exercise reasonable professional judgment,” the lawsuit states.
“Instead of identifying red flags, contacting Mr. Leneave, issuing a hold, implementing enhanced monitoring and due diligence, or timely reporting elder exploitation, Godsey & Gibb swiftly authorized and materially facilitated numerous uncharacteristic, sudden, and anomalously substantial and suspicious transactions.”
Specifically, between July and October 2024, Godsey & Gibb -- through Riley -- failed to identify, investigate, and prevent multiple suspicious requests overseen by Godsey & Gibb “at or above several alarming monetary thresholds.”
“Godsey & Gibb materially facilitated the pilfering of more than $1.7 million of Plaintiff’s funds through 96 uncharacteristic requests -- the volume of which is, in itself, a glaring red flag,” the complaint states.
Leneave’s suit points out that Florida imposes obligations on Godsey & Gibb to detect and report the financial exploitation of vulnerable adults.
The Florida Adult Protective Services Act requires investment advisers or associated persons who know or reasonably suspect that a vulnerable adult has been abused, neglected, or exploited to immediately report such conduct to the appropriate authorities.
Additionally, she notes, Florida securities law authorizes investment advisers to delay suspicious disbursements from the accounts of vulnerable adults and requires such firms to develop training policies or programs; conduct training; and develop procedures for internal review.
“Defendant's compliance failures are laid bare and shown to be inadequate by the events giving rise to this action,” the complaint states.
Leneave and her son, Brian Leneave, allegedly made clear to Godsey & Gibb that she wanted to maintain an extremely conservative investment strategy, with the objective of preserving her retirement savings – not pursuing speculative or aggressive investment returns.
She contends Riley should have made reasonable efforts to obtain the name and contact information of a “trusted contact” – whether it be her son or someone else – to assist in protecting her assets.
”Investment advisers are trusted to act in the best interests of their clients and to monitor, investigate, and prevent financial fraud when it occurs – not to serve as the fuel to such engines of criminal enterprise,” her suit states. “When the trust imbued in fiduciaries is violated, both the adviser and the client are harmed.”
Silver Miller in Coral Springs, Florida, and Wites & Rogers in Lighthouse Point, Florida, are representing Leneave in the action.
Judge Jordan E. Pratt for the Middle District of Florida has been assigned the case.
