Rose Marks family photo–her mother-in-law’s wedding day
Gypsy fortunetellers have always intrigued me. They bring out our gullibility, and there are apparently a lot of gullible people ready to turn over their hard earned money – even their fortunes – to the worst elements of the psychic field.
Some of them operate on the bottom rung of the business providing simply readings for a few dollars. I recall paying $5 at a county fair for a five-minute reading from a gypsy. I wasn’t expecting much so I wasn’t disappointed when my reading basically consisted of ‘Good health, good fortune, and of course, great romance.’ It was all mine. I smiled and walked off, thinking that the woman might make $100-150 an evening at the fair saying basically the same thing.
The next step up the ladder is the cold reading, where the reader asks questions and watches the subject closely, profiling the person. With a couple of lucky guesses, or even a bit talent, the reader hooks the subject to believing what he or she is being told about their futures. A mentalist working a crowd might have one or more plants, who pick up information about people beforehand that is forwarded to the reader. Some such readings are simply harmless entertainment. But clever readers will promise more, especially in the realm of romance…if you come back. But this time be sure to bring cash or jewelry that can be buried to discharge evil influences in your life. That sort of thing.
Why anyone would fall for such simple ploys is beyond me. But people do. Even seemingly smart, articulate, and wealthy people. For example, millionaire romance novelist Jude Deveraux. We’ll get to her shortly.
At the top of the ladder are the best of the con artists, people who do have psychic talent, but lack ethical or moral standards. They are out to hook clients, lie and cheat, and make as much money as possible. They are clever enough to carry on this ruse for years and can earn millions.
Case in point, Rose Marks of Fort Lauderdale and New York City, who schemed $25 million from long-term clients, including $17 million from novelist Deveraux. Marks, who worked under the name Joyce Michaels, is a member of Vlax Roma, the biggest gypsy group in the U.S., where the women are traditionally fortune tellers. In fact, Marks was the head of a group of eight women, all family members, when she was arrested. With Deveraux, she worked her way deeply into the novelist’s life, serving as a personal assistant and life coach.
Some of Marks’ exploits are so over-the-top that it’s really hard to believe anyone would fall for such schemes. “She said money is energy and money is evil and if I had money in my bank account, I was attracting evil,” Deveraux testified in court at Marks’ trial in mid-September. So she gave millions in cash and jewelry for Marks to hold for her. Sounds like a con, smells like a con. But Deveraux complied.
It gets even stranger when Marks helped Deveraux with her romantic pursuits. She said she was duped into believing she was secretly corresponding with then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and actor Brad Pitt. Deveraux believed she was exchanging letters and emails with Powell for four years before she cut it off when ‘Powell’ continued to avoid a face-to-face meeting. An Arizona woman testified in court that she typed up letters and emails that appeared to be from Powell and Pitt, but were dictated by Marks. She said she thought they were role-playing writing exercises for Deveraux. Marks is a clever one. Quite creative in her ruses.
Then, as if to make it all even more bizarre, Marks devised a soul-transferring scheme to meet both Deveraux’s romantic desires and for her to salvage the soul of her 8-year-son, Sam, who had died in an ATV accident. Marks told her that her son had not gone to heaven and that Marks could transfer his soul into the body of another person, reuniting mother and son.
“She said all she saw were flames and I had to keep him out of the flames,” Deveraux testified. Marks said she had foreseen the death and prepared for it by saving an embryo from the in-vitro-fertilization procedures Deveraux had undergone to give birth to Sam.
Rose Marks
Marks claimed that a virgin, who looked like the late Princess Grace of Monaco, had used the embryo to give birth to a child – the full blood brother of Sam. Marks apparently predicted that Deveraux would die and assume the body of the younger woman and be re-united with son.
Very cunning, right? But there’s more. Marks told her that the woman had secretly married Brad Pitt and Deveraux would be married to him when she assumed the woman’s body. Wow. To go along with this scenario seems so outrageous that we have to wonder if Deveraux had lost her own soul. It seemed that she had become a character from one of her own romances.
There’s much more of this story being reported by the Sun-Sentinel newspaper. It’s been a front-page article for days, and we couldn’t help commenting on it. Marks has pleaded not guilty. She has also claimed to be a psychic consultant for the pope and the FBI and that her clients included former presidents, Powell, Pitt, and actress Jane Seymour. ‘Claim’ is the key word there.
Of course, hard-core skeptics and debunkers will say, ‘I told you so. Psychics are either frauds or misguided individuals.’ Of course, to do so essentially takes one case and expands it to the entire field of psychics and mediums. It’s seeing reality in a very rigid way, based on the idea that psychic abilities don’t exist.
But get this: Marks apparently does have psychic talents. Deveraux, in fact, came to trust her after some of her predictions proved uncannily accurate. For example, she said Deveraux’s husband would file for divorce and accurately predicted the precise hour when the divorce filing was delivered.
Marks also warned her to leave her Manhattan apartment and change the locks because her husband was coming. She checked into a hotel and staff at her apartment building told her that her husband unexpectedly showed up and was angrier than anyone they’d ever seen, Deveraux said.
Then again, knowing what we do about Marks…maybe the husband was in on the con. But no such allegations have been made by the prosecution. So who knows. Maybe Marks will reform and give good readings to her fellow inmates when this case is over.
Jude Deveraux – duped for 17 years for $17 million
