by Angie Pollock

Created on: June 29, 2010

Author Jacquelyn Mitchard was the little known writer of “The Deep End of the Ocean” – that was until her book was the first to be chosen by Oprah Winfrey for the Oprah’s Book Club in 1996. The mother of nine instantly became a household name by Oprah fans making her an overnight bestselling author.

In an interview with AOL, Mitchard says "I went from being a widow with no money, to being an author with lots of money, to being an author with nine kids who's hanging on with her fingernails.” Her story is not unlike thousands of other victims that lost everything to Trevor Cook – the man behind an international Ponzi scheme that bilked millions of dollars from investors.

Minneapolis money manager, Trevor Cook, fully admits that he scammed over 1,000 investors of approximately $190 million. The former sports bookie was living the high life with other people’s money. When facing the judge, Cook confessed to placing his clients’ money into brokerage firm and promising the investors no-risk returns even after he learned the firm, Crown Forex SA, was headed to bankruptcy.  He lied to his clients like Jacquelyn Mitchard which in turn, left his clients broke.

The Trevor Cook scheme was overshadowed by two other Ponzi schemes that reached into the billions of dollars – Bernard Madoff and Tom Petters. But what most don’t hear are the victims’ stories.  Jacquelyn Mitchard first came out with her story in 2009 when she wrote an article for “Parade”. When she first discovered that all of her invested money was gone, she had seven children and was in the process of adopting two more.

She describes her ordeal of finding out that she was a victim of an investment scam. She said “Your circulatory system constricts; the brain is blood-deprived for a moment; you find it difficult to stand... We still had our bank accounts. But there was nothing in them.”

Her husband had discovered two Minneapolis-based people who “specialized” in investments.  “I couldn’t argue with what their portfolio seemed to say. Now, suddenly, our money had vanished, and the two were under investigation by a federal grand jury and the Securities and Exchange Commission.”, Mitchard stated in “Parade”.

Although Cook pled guilty and he has agreed to pay restitution to those he conned, it may be years before people like Mitchard ever see their money. Although broke and scraping by, Jacquelyn Mitchard is trying to pick herself back up again. She published “No Time To Wave Goodbye”, a sequel to “The Deep End of the Ocean” and she submitted an audition tape for “Your Own Show”, the Oprah Winfrey contest to become a talk show host.

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