Hawaiian surfer Clay Marzo has found himself bankrupt after being embezzled of his life savings and his property by his bookkeeper.
Felicidad Rivera, a 51-year-old bookkeeper from Makawao, Hawaii, has been indicted for fraud for allegedly taking $400,000 over six and a half years from the Marzo.
According to the authorities, Rivera wrote herself no less than 193 checks from 2010 to 2016, and paid her credit card charges from Marzo's personal account, in the same period.
Knowing that Clay suffers from Asperger's syndrome, and his mother struggles with dyslexia, Rivera took advantage of the money paid by sponsors to Marzo and left his family with a $30,000 debt.
"It's bittersweet. It's awful that she did because she was like a family member. She was close to us and worked with me for a long time," Jill Marzo Clark, Clay's mother, told Maui News.
"It's really impacted Clay greatly, so I'm trying my best to get him squared away. I'm hoping somehow we get some money back, but I don't know how that's going to happen."
Clay Marzo is currently shooting a documentary on his surfing adventures throughout the world. He is now living in Kahana, in on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
Watch Clay Marzo's incredible surfing skills in "Just Add Water."
