[1][2][3][4][5] Marks and members of her extended family operated multiple storefront businesses, four in Broward County, Florida one of which was in Fort Lauderdale, named "Astrology Life" and one in Manhattan on W. 58th Street near Central Park.
[9] Charles Stack, a retired Fort Lauderdale police detective, said the case and the ensuing publicity brought attention to predatory and fraudulent fortune tellers.
[5][10] Defense attorney Fred Schwartz said the federal government seized Marks' family assets including cars, motorcycles, a boat, gold, jewelry and a home near the Intracoastal Waterway.
McMahon states members of this group "traditionally drop out of school when they are 8 or 9 years old" and that "Mothers train daughters to develop what they call 'psychic' or 'intuitive' powers.
[11] The family was identified as relatives of the late Gypsy leader, Jimmy Marks of Spokane, Washington by the New York Daily News.
[3][5] A subsequent federal investigation, "Operation Crystal Ball", resulted in a sixty-one-count indictment, unsealed on August 16, 2011, charging Marks and eight family members with crimes spanning twenty years.
[3] US magistrate judge James Hopkins had previously criticized the government's conduct but felt it did not meet criteria for dismissal of the case.
[15] Defense lawyers contended that the prosecution of the family was the most recent example of long-running persecution of the Romani people rooted in a lack of understanding of their culture and bias against them.
[2] Rose Marks was sentenced to just over ten years in federal prison on March 3, 2014 for defrauding clients of her family's fortune-telling businesses out of more than $17.8 million.
[17] Victims included a female US Naval Academy graduate, an English attorney and other highly educated men and women with executive positions.