Con artist or beaten spouse? [Tampa Bay Area]
She blames her ex. It’s an act, her victims in a housing scam say.
Who is Synthia Ippolito?
Is she, as prosecutors allege, a cunning con who bought the homes of 20 people under false pretenses, forcing victims to spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy their properties back or to lose their homes entirely?
Or is she, as her lawyer claims, a victim herself who was forced into shady real estate deals from St. Petersburg to Hudson by an ex-husband who coerced her with physical violence?
In May, a jury heard both descriptions of Ippolito, 38, during a six-day trial in Pinellas Circuit Court.