Home-shopping goods seized from Stinson's home

Someone in the household of Robert Stinson Jr., who was criminally charged a week ago in connection with a $17 million Ponzi scheme, was an avid customer of QVC and HSN.

Federal authorities found dozens of boxes from the TV home-shopping channels this week, many of them unopened, when they secured furnishings and other items in the Berwyn house where Stinson lives.

Even more boxes from the home-shopping channels were found in a self-storage facility registered to Stinson's wife, Susan.

The trip to the 7,700-square-foot house Stinson rents in Berwyn was part of an effort by Kamian Schwartzman, a court-appointed receiver, to gather assets that can be used to reduce the losses of 260 investors allegedly defrauded since 2006 through Stinson's Life's Good Inc., which promised investors annual returns of 10 percent to 16 percent.

Based on what the receiver has been able to pin down so far, Stinson appears to have spent a significant amount of the money he allegedly stole from investors on stuff such as flat-screen TVs (five of them), jewelry, fine china, Tiffany lamps, a Waterford crystal vase, and a Brunswick pool table.

Those were among the items hauled away Monday when the receiver, an associate from his law firm, four U.S. marshals, and eight movers went to 260 Blackburn Dr., where the rent is $8,500 a month.

Authorities estimated that they would need two 32-foot moving vans, but they had to call for two more to carry the contents of the house, which are being stored at Slosberg Auctioneers & Appraisers in South Philadelphia. Slosberg will auction the items on a yet-to-be-determined date.

On Friday morning, Stinson, 55, and his son Michael are scheduled to deliver three cars to the Slosberg warehouse. Stinson is supposed to hand over a 2004 Chrysler Sebring. Michael Stinson agreed to drop off higher-end vehicles: a 2007 Mercedes-Benz GL450 and a 2001 Mercedes-Benz S430, according to a court filing Wednesday.

Michael Stinson told the receiver's lawyer, Gaeton J. Alfano, that he bought the 2001 Mercedes in April with an $11,000 bonus check he received from Life's Good and the 2007 Mercedes SUV in May with a $33,000 check from Life's Good, the filing said.

Those Mercedes-Benz vehicles are in addition to the two already seized by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which halted Robert Stinson's alleged scheme in June. Stinson, who has not responded to requests for an interview, entered the investment business despite convictions for fraud in the 1980s and early 1990s.

In a lawsuit, the SEC described a lavish lifestyle led by Stinson and his family, including two $800 dinners at Center City restaurants March 4; a $7,844 stay at The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach, Fla.; and a yacht rental costing $21,810.

But when the SEC asked a federal judge to appoint a receiver, it said had identified Stinson and Life's Good assets totaling just $285,000.

This week's actions by the receiver were prompted by information that the owner of 260 Blackburn Dr., who has been in bankruptcy, was threatening to evict the Stinsons unless they became current on the rent.

The house is supposed to be listed for sale by Jan. 1, according to the bankruptcy plan for its owner, Diane C. Henderson.