PORTLAND — A woman who wore a blond wig and faked a British accent as part of an elaborate con that duped an Oregon man of millions of dollars pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Porsha Lee, 25, is expected to get about three years in prison at her April 15 sentencing. She declined comment after Wednesday’s hearing before a federal judge in Portland.
Her mother, Rachel Lee, pleaded guilty in the same case last fall and will be sentenced next month. As the mastermind, she is expected to spend seven to nine years in prison.
According to prosecutors, the scheme began a decade ago when Ralph Raines Jr., the heir to a timber fortune, met Rachel Lee at her psychic shop in Bend, Ore.
Raines, now 67, was living with his father on a 1,200-acre tree farm west of Portland while the father was in declining health due to a stroke.
Lee eventually moved in to become his caregiver. Her then-teenage daughter, Porsha Lee, joined them.
Rachel Lee eventually gained control of the family’s financial and business affairs, and started siphoning money before the elder Raines died in February 2011.
In 2007, Raines Jr. met a British woman named Mary Marks at Portland International Airport. The two hit it off and Marks, supposedly a traveling bookkeeper, could help Raines with money matters.
Raines Jr. eventually told people he married Marks so she could stay in this country legally.
Marks, however, turned out to be Porsha Lee in disguise. She not only fooled him into thinking there was a marriage, but she convinced him they had a son named Giorgio. Another daughter of Rachel Lee allowed her child to play the role of Giorgio.
Acting as Raines’ wife, Porsha Lee negotiated the sale of properties totaling millions of dollars, with the money going into bank accounts controlled by her mother.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Donna Maddux said in court Wednesday that Porsha Lee used her portion of the ill-gotten gains to buy expensive clothes in Beverly Hills, stay at luxury hotels in Las Vegas and lease vehicles from a Mercedes dealership in Fresno, Calif. During her arrest, authorities found $36,000 in her underwear drawer.
Beyond the financial loss, the “personal and emotional toll” on Raines has been tremendous, Maddux said.
The prosecutor noted that even today, with the guilty pleas, Raines believes he has a wife named Mary Marks and a son.
A lawyer representing Raines attended the hearing, but did not make a statement. He declined comment outside the courtroom.
Porsha Lee has three children between the ages of 2 months and 5 years. The terms of her plea agreement state that she will spend no less than two years in prison and no more than three. U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Jones said three years is more likely than two.
There’s also the matter of restitution, a process Jones predicted would be “elaborate and expensive and time consuming.”
