Twenty five years in prison and nearly $60 million restitution can't take away the pain sisters Polly Claypool and Julie Hammer will feel for the rest of their lives due to Benny Judah.
"Truly, what he has done is absolutely unconscionable. No, 25 years is not enough,:" says Hammer.
Their family invested hundreds of thousands with Judah. In return they're left with nearly-empty trust funds and a jarring sense of vulnerability.
"What scares me is, how many other people in my life am I trusting right now that are totally taking advantage of me?" says Claypool.
Hammer says their family had always been close to Judah.
"Benny's mom used to work for our dad and dad gave benny his very first job so we've known Benny since he was well into junior high," says Hammer.
When Claypool was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis 13 years ago he says Judah advised her to invest with him instead of long term care insurance.
So instead of being self-sufficient like he'd promised she's left with worry about her future.
"It's a love-hate relationship because i'm very angry that his actions have caused me to lose him, lose that ideal of him and not like him when I do, I did and I lost him. That's very important to me almost as much as the money," says Claypool.
Hammer has the satisfaction of confronting Judah face to facen looking him in the eye and reading a letter from her 91-year old mother addressed to who she thought was a trusted friend.
"I believe it ended, something to the effect of, 'Benny, I hope that someday you'll find that soul you once had.' I too, like Polly, believe that there is a really good man somewhere in there, but it got lost in the money, somewhere a long time ago," says Hammer.
