x
Breaking News
More () »

11Alive investigation leads to sentencing of slick million dollar fraudsters

After slipping through the judicial net three times, they're now facing years behind bars for their Atlanta victims

Three years into their investigation, the 11Alive Investigators have gotten justice for Atlanta victims defrauded out of a million dollars.

A husband and wife pleaded guilty to running a Ponzi scheme after 11Alive Chief Investigator Brendan Keefe literally pursued the couple across the nation to help bring them home.

This was a long con; the husband and wife used their children to infiltrate the community, earning the trust of their friends and neighbors - their future victims.

In a Fulton County courtroom on Wednesday, Eli Shetrit and Eyelet Ellituv admitted stealing a million dollars in cash and diamonds from 11 victims in Atlanta. Our search revealed them living in luxury in New York City. Three years before, in 2015, Fulton County released the couple on bond - on two occasions - and they fled the state.

After we discovered the Ponzi schemers living in a multi-million dollar New York condo, they moved to a mansion in Connecticut where we tracked them down yet again and alerted police. But they were released by a judge there a third time.

Now, a Fulton County judge has sent them to prison - the husband facing 15 years in jail and five on probation and his wife 10 years in prison. He also ordered the couple to pay the victims back the $1 million they stole.

"Eliahu Shetrit and Ayelet Ellituv are thieves and monsters," victim Sanjeev Desai said. "There are no words for the tremendous mental pain their theft has inflicted on my family and other victims of this scheme."

One of the accused, Shetrit, responded that he did not mean to "hurt anybody."

"I've disappointed many friendships, myself, and mostly my children," the other, Ellituv, said.

It's clear the victims won't soon forget the deception used to steal away their prized possessions and their money.

"The layers of hurt that Eli and Ayelet caused ... shook us to our core," Bobbi Livnat said. "The betrayal, the set-up, the execution."

Livnat is the victim who tracked the couple while the district attorney spent years waiting to indict them. Livnat even got the New York Police Department warrant squad to arrest the husband. And she had the Port Authority Police pull the wife off a plane at JFK as she was trying to leave the country.

The District Attorney said these 10 and 15-year sentences are the harshest ever handed down for a white-collar crime in Fulton County.

Prosecutors say there are more victims as well spanning Florida, New York and Connecticut.

Before You Leave, Check This Out