MARION cOUNTY, Fla. — Holly Schaefer is retired and now living in Marion County. She told Action 9, “I had a broker up in Illinois, and I wanted someone down here who I could see face to face.” But she claims after hiring Michael Hainsworth as a financial advisor, her money is missing and now she doesn’t know where he is either.
Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal asked, “Did he ever explain why he didn’t have the money, or what he did with it?”
Schaefer answered, “No, no, no.”
She filed a report with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and claims she’s out nearly $200,000. Other seniors told Action 9, Michael Hainsworth disappeared with their money, too.
Holly Schaefer said Hainsworth had a nice office and people spoke highly of him. She and her husband used to see him at their church from time to time and now they feel betrayed.
Michael Hainsworth is seen on some YouTube videos for his business Hainsworth Wealth Advisory. The videos use words like Honor, Wealth and Accountability to promote the business.
After visiting his Ocala office, Holly Schaefer believed he was the real deal but not anymore.
“It feels violating. You know, putting your trust in someone and just having it just trashed really hurts,” she said.
Schaefer showed Action 9 documents indicating she handed over around $195,000 to Hainsworth. It’s money she claims he agreed to invest in bond funds that would provide monthly payouts.
She explained, “Everything was fine. I was getting my monthly disbursement for the first three months.”
But then, Hainsworth let her know the payout date changed, and her money was going to be late. Then there were more excuses about late payments and then the payments stopped coming in altogether.
Eventually, after she requested all her money back and there were more broken promises about getting her money, her husband received a text message from Hainsworth.
The first part of the message read, “I am not going to be able to pay everything back in one total amount.” It asked them to contact his attorney about a legally binding payback agreement. The message then finished with: “If you decide to go a different route it will diminish or eliminate any chance of me paying you back.”
Records show in 2014, Hainsworth was sanctioned by FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, with a 30-day suspension and $10,000 fine for allegedly sending misleading emails to potential investors.
In 2022, when he had an office in southwest Florida, a man in in Lee County sued claiming Hainsworth deceived him into investing nearly $250,000 into “a fictitious annuity and nonexistent real estate investments.” That case was settled out of court.
No one answered when the Action 9 team stopped at Hainsworth’s Ocala office or when Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal called the business phone number.
The website Realtor.com shows the home Hainsworth owned in Ocala sold on July 30th. About a month ago, there was a post from his Facebook account indicating he was in Roatan, Honduras and he needed a mechanic to work on his boat.
Holly Schaefer is worried he may be out of the country; she’s no longer getting the dividends she counted on and wonders if she’ll ever see her money again.
She said, “That was $1,500 a month. It’s gone. And that doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but when you’re on a fixed income, it makes a big difference.”
The Action 9 team heard from a handful of other seniors in Marion County who claim they also trusted Hainsworth with their money and now believe it could be gone.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office posted on its Facebook page about this being a fraud investigation. It believes there are other victims and wants anyone who gave money to Hainsworth to contact Detective Caruthers at 352-351-4776 or 352-732-9111.
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