Dead California money guru accused of fleecing woman out of $4.8M as widow makes bizarre comparison
A Southern California accountant and popular radio show host is accused of swindling an elderly woman out of millions of dollars — as his unwitting widow compared herself to the wife of notorious Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff.The late Richard Muscio — who rose to fame by hosting the “It’s Your Money and Your Life” radio show in San Diego from 2011 to 2018 — allegedly embezzled $4.8 million from a client whose nephew is now suing.Steven Blume said he discovered that Muscio had allegedly stolen from his aunt, Mary Blume, after the accountant died in 2024 following a battle with cancer.When Steven became the trustee for his aunt’s account, he saw that it only contained $3,266 in cash.
The nephew also discovered that Muscio allegedly set up a secret bank account.“I started digging into each of the assets and finding, “Oh, this is not what it seems,'” Steven told ABC 10 News.Mary had assets that included a $465,000 bungalow in Encinitas, which Muscio allegedly bought as a trustee.He then used the trust to enter “sham loan transactions” with hundreds of thousands in borrowed money at “outrageous interest rates,” according to the lawsuit. “There was no reason to mortgage the property.
The trust should have had millions of dollars in cash, and it was set up to invest in things.It wasn’t set up to take on debt,” her nephew said.Steven allegedly even spotted Muscio’s son living at the Encintas property, accusing his offspring of making sham rent payments to the trust that were transferred back to his family.Steven also claimed Muscio used his aunt’s money to pay off credit cards, BMW and Mercedes leases, and personal mortgages.
Before Mary died in 2025 at the age of 93, her nephew told her that all of the money was gone, describing it as “one of the most distressing moments of my life.”Richard’s wife Mari Muscio, who is named in the lawsuit, claimed she was also duped.“If you look at everything that’s been hidden for so long,...