WATERBURY, Conn. -- A Waterbury couple claims that their insurance agent and financial advisor stole their life savings.

Michael and Elizabeth Santopietro said that they trusted Tom Cipriano to help them invest their funds, but said that he took the money and spent it.

The I-Team uncovered allegations that Watertown's Cipriano has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from elderly investors.

The Santopietros said that they wanted to get more return from their nest egg. They said their $30,000 was sitting in a bank account when they heard an ad on the radio.

"It was on for maybe a couple weeks, almost every day, and I said, 'There's got to be something there, let's dig into it and see what happens,'" Michael Santopietro said.

Santopietro said the ad led them to an office building in Waterbury, and to insurance agent Cipriano.

"We went in there and he was all hip about it, it sounded real well, very nice," Michael Santopietro said.

On Cipriano's Web site, annuitiesareus.com, he promised to help retired seniors to protect their nest eggs.

At his urging, the Santtopietros said they put their money in an annuity with the Jackson National Life Insurance Company in 2002.

After a few years, they said that Cipriano said that he could earn them even more.

"He was Italian, and he was talking to us about Waterbury and some of the people he knew, and I don't know, he didn't steer us wrong with Jackson," Elizabeth Santopietro said.

The Santopietros said the plan was to roll the money into what Cipriano called an investment loan that would guarantee 8 percent in interest.

The couple said that they thought their money was still backed up by Jackson National Life Insurance, but that they later learned that when they signed the contract, they were giving it directly to Cipriano.

They said they were reassured when they needed $3,000 for a cruise, and a check quickly arrived.

"Then we got the $3,000, and I said, 'Well he gave us that, he must be all right ,'" Elizabeth Santopietro said.

The Santopietros said the investment began to unravel when they received a knock on their door and found an agent from the Internal Revenue Service.

The couple said the agent told them that she was investigating Cipriano for tax evasion.

The I-Team contacted the IRS, but was told that its policy prohibits it from commenting on an investigation until an arrest is made.

The Santipietros said that when they requested their money back, Cipriano stopped returning their calls.

"I'm embarrassed. How could you be so stupid? It was just a perfect con. You don't think that something's going to happen to you," Elizabeth Santipietro said.

The I-Team found Cipriano's home on Kimberly Lane in Watertown, but despite repeated visits, he never answered the door.

The I-Team received a call from Cipriano's attorney, Alfred Morroco. Morrocco insisted that his client is "working hard to pay the Santopietros back. He has no intention of not paying."

Shortly after the I-Team spoke with Morrocco, the Santipietros said they received a call from Cipriano.

Elizabeth Santopietro said she asked Cipriano if he was scamming them. She said he said that he planned to sell his house and give them the money.

Morrocco told the I-Tem that if the Santopietros want the house, "they can have it."

However, according to court records, the $464,000 home is in foreclosure.

I-Team Uncovers More Allegations Against Agents

The I-Team uncovered a lawsuit filed by the estate of Elizabeth Karas-Bartolini. The suit claims that the cancer patient was convinced to make a $25,000 investment loan to Cipriano in 2006. Her lawyer said that she died without collecting any of the promised $500 monthly payments.

Donato Mancini said that Cipriano convinced him to empty his IRA in return for a promise of 12 percent interest. He said he hasn't seen his money since.

Mancini's attorney called Cipriano "immoral, oppressive and unscrupulous."

Morrocco said that all of the loans were financial transactions among friends, although when the I-Team pressed, he admitted that he didn't know how Cipriano knew any of the people who loaned him money.

That question is answered in the lawsuit filed by 92-year-old James Frawley and his 91-year-old wife, Eleanor. They said they had never heard of Cipriano when he called out of the blue and convinced them to loan him money.

At one point, they said "he began to cry" while begging for loans. Another time the couple said he told them he couldn't pay because "his son was diagnosed with cancer."

The Frawleys said that after several of the original loans were paid back, Cipriano showed up again and asked them for another $25,000.

Six months later, the Frawleys said Cipriano was back and begged for another $25,000 and "said that he would not leave until we agreed."

The Frawyles said that they eventually did "reluctantly agree."

They said they are still owed more than $50,000, and like the Santopietros, said in court documents that they believe "they were set up from the beginning."

"I'd like to know what he did with all the money," Michael Santopietro said.

That answer is no easier to swallow.

The I-Team uncovered a lawsuit filed on behalf of the Wyndham Aruba Beach Resort and Casino. It claims Cipriano was loaned money while he was there gambling in 2005, and that he still owes the casino $10,000.

In the lawsuit filed by the Frawlyes, they claim that Cipriano "spent large sums of money in the Connecticut casinos."

Between the unpaid loans, a default on a home equity line of credit and a default on their mortgage, court records show Cipriano owes $70,000 more than his house is worth.

In 2006, he signed the title of the home over to his wife, Deborah, a surgical coordinator at Waterbury Hospital.

The I-Team found that signing the title over isn't stopping creditors, and the couple is set to lose the home on July 1.

Cipriano's attorney blamed the financial problems on the senior citizens who lost their investments. He said the high-interest rates they were promised suggest they were loan-sharking Cipriano.

The Santopietros said that they don't care about the interest, they just want their money back.

"At our age, you can't just go out and say, 'Well, I'm going to go out and start all over again," Michael Santopietro said. "You could try, but how much can you try?"

Frustrated, the Santopietros went to the police. They said that a Waterbury police detective told them that he was infuriated, but because they signed the loan documents, it wasn't a crime.

"How could he sleep at night? How could you do that, not just to us, but to so many people? You made that your living -- taking money from other people. That's stealing, and nothing could be done to him, because it's a loan," Elizabeth Santopietro said.

The I-Team did find that the state Insurance Department suspended Cipriano's license, citing concerns that Cipriano could cause "irreparable harm to residents of Connecticut."

The Insurance Department said Cipriano's unpaid loans total several hundred thousand dollars.

The I-Team contacted Jackson National Life Insurance Company. The company said it was aware of the allegations against Cipriano, but that he was an independent agent, not an employee.

The company said that he is no longer authorized to sell insurance or annuities on its behalf.

Jackson would not say if it would make good on any of its agents loans.

"The home is paid, everything is paid for, it was just a little something that we banked on, that we could go back on, if God forbid something really drastic happened," Elizabeth Santopietro said.

She said that while she found telling her story to be embarrassing, she said she was afraid that if she didn't, someone else would fall victim to Cipriano.