A Cincinnati woman pleaded guilty Monday to stealing more than $158,000 from ill or elderly veterans while she served as their money manager. (Joshua Magbanua/U.S. Air Force)
A Cincinnati woman pleaded guilty Monday to stealing more than $158,000 from ill or elderly veterans while she served as their money manager.
Ishwanzya Rivers, 46, admitted to stealing more than $135,000 from a Marine Corps veteran in his 80s while he lived in a Department of Veterans Affairs facility. He died in March 2022 as Rivers spent his money on international travel, hotels, restaurants, shopping and video streaming subscriptions, according to court records.
She also stole more than $23,000 from three other veterans while serving as their fiduciary, a person delegated to manage money in the best interest of someone while they are unable to do so themselves.
The charge, misappropriation by a fiduciary, could result in a prison sentence of up to five years, a $250,000 fine or restitution, according to court records.
Following her guilty plea before Judge Matthew W. McFarland in the Southern District of Ohio, Rivers was released pending sentencing. A date for a sentencing hearing was not listed in the court docket.
An attorney for Rivers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rivers first became the Marine veteran’s fiduciary in February 2015 to manage his VA benefits. In this role she acknowledged she could not borrow, loan, gift or mix the money with anyone else’s.
A year later, Rivers moved $5,500 from the veteran’s account over several transactions, ultimately leaving it short $3,500, according to court records. The VA then requested an accounting of the veteran’s finances, so she transferred $3,500 back into the veteran’s and told the VA that all the transfers were due to a bank error.
In 2018 the VA investigated Rivers and removed her as the veteran’s fiduciary because it found she did not complete some accounting requirements. By this point, the veteran’s account had more than $130,000, which the VA directed her to move to the new fiduciary’s account. She did not.
With the help of a friend who worked at the VA, Rivers got reappointed as the veteran’s money manager in 2021 under a new company name and rapidly drained the bank account, according to court records. She spent the money to travel to Montego Bay, Jamaica; Cancun, Mexico; London; Panama; Zurich; Vienna; and Maldives.
After the Marine died, Rivers made two false statements about his bank accounts in an attempt to cover the theft.
She acted similarly while managing the money of three other veterans — two who served in the Army and one in the Air Force.
Rivers filed for bankruptcy in 2024, claiming roughly $80,000 in income in 2022. She did not mention her fiduciary business in the filing.
