ANCHORAGE – A former Anchorage nurse was sentenced in federal court Thursday for fraud and filing a false tax return.
Brian Amiel Ben-Israel, 54, was sentenced to five and half years in prison for stealing more than $2 million from an elderly woman’s estate, according to prosecutors.
Ben-Israel was working for Meridian Psychiatric Consulting Group when he met Juanita Gielarowski. During 2005 to 2008, he became a health care provider and financial advisor to Gielarowski and her daughter. Ben-Israel was able to create a new trust with the help of co-defendant Philip Eric Myers — a disbarred California attorney — and steal money from Gielarowski.
Ben-Israel and Myers’ swindling depleted Gielarowski’s estate by 2009, which caused her to be relocated from her home to a state-funded elder care facility. She died there in July 2010.
Ben-Israel pled guilty in September to one count each of mail fraud, wire fraud and filing a false tax return. A hearing in February 2014 will determine how much he’ll pay in restitution, prosecutors said. Myers also pled guilty in September and has a sentencing scheduled in January.