many of the victims had suffered a traumatic loss. two victims identified by "the palm beach post", author jude deveraux and another woman were defrauded of $20 million and $1 million, respectively. deveraux believed the money would be returned after it was "cleansed". the single victim of vivian marks identified by the "sun-sentinel" was defrauded of $180,000 which he was told would go to charity work in africa. another victim was told that her money had burned in the september 11 attacks. a victim who had been hearing voices in his head was told by cynthia miller that she would speak with michael the archangel who she said told her the victim needed to sacrifice gold coins. this victim turned $400,000 in gold coins over to miller. a family curse that could be cured only by the "cleansing" of money and valuables was a scenario frequently employed by the marks family. victims included a female us naval academy graduate, an english attorney and other highly educated men and women with executive positions.