A Southern California accountant and popular radio show host is accused of swindling an elderly woman out of millions of dollars — as his unwitting widow compared herself to the wife of notorious Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff.

The late Richard Muscio — who rose to fame by hosting the “It’s Your Money and Your Life” radio show in San Diego from 2011 to 2018 — allegedly embezzled $4.8 million from a client whose nephew is now suing.

Steven Blume said he discovered that Muscio had allegedly stolen from his aunt, Mary Blume, after the accountant died in 2024 following a battle with cancer. When Steven became the trustee for his aunt’s account, he saw that it only contained $3,266 in cash. The nephew also discovered that Muscio allegedly set up a secret bank account.

“I started digging into each of the assets and finding, “Oh, this is not what it seems,’” Steven told ABC 10 News.

Mary had assets that included a $465,000 bungalow in Encinitas, which Muscio allegedly bought as a trustee. He then used the trust to enter “sham loan transactions” with hundreds of thousands in borrowed money at “outrageous interest rates,” according to the lawsuit. 

“There was no reason to mortgage the property. The trust should have had millions of dollars in cash, and it was set up to invest in things. It wasn’t set up to take on debt,” her nephew said.

Steven allegedly even spotted Muscio’s son living at the Encintas property, accusing his offspring of making sham rent payments to the trust that were transferred back to his family.

Steven also claimed Muscio used his aunt’s money to pay off credit cards, BMW and Mercedes leases, and personal mortgages. Before Mary died in 2025 at the age of 93, her nephew told her that all of the money was gone, describing it as “one of the most distressing moments of my life.”

Richard’s wife Mari Muscio, who is named in the lawsuit, claimed she was also duped.

“If you look at everything that’s been hidden for so long, it makes sense Richard was a master at hiding things,” she told ABC 10.

She compared herself to Ruth Madoff, the unsuspecting wife of famed fraudster Bernie Madoff.

“My husband did all the banking, all of it probably, 98% of it,” she said.

“I don’t embezzle. I don’t commit fraud.”

Several checks from Mary Blume’s trust were made out to Richard Muscio’s family, ABC 10 reported. The checks, including one for $100,000 and another for $25,000, appeared to have been signed by Richard and made out to Mari. Her name is endorsed on the back of the checks, the outlet reported.

However, Mari claimed she was unaware of the checks.

“I guess he would put them in an account and not tell me,” she said.

Mari claimed that her husband’s family, including his sister, mother, and brother, told her that Richard also took their money. In addition, Mari claimed 50 to 100 people, including more clients, had been affected by her husband’s activity.

The wife also said she’s thinking about starting a podcast and writing a book about her husband’s deception.

“It’s shocking what has taken place and I do have a lot to say about probably the 50-100 people that didn’t know,” she said.

The San Diego District Attorney’s Office told ABC 10 that no case against Richard or his family was ever submitted for review. He did plead guilty in 2003 to a felony for conspiring to defraud the US by filing false tax documents that understated one of his clients’ incomes.

Mary Blume told a private investigator in 2024 that she never gave Richard or any of his family permission to use her money for personal expenses.

A former police lieutenant told ABC 10 that if a case had been submitted, the evidence against Richard was a “slam dunk.”