An Essex woman was spared prison Wednesday during sentencing for her role in the “gifting tables” pyramid scheme along the Connecticut shoreline. Bettejane Hopkins, 68, had been charged with multiple ...

Editor's note: Register reporter Susan Misur was recently invited to attend a local "gifting table," a growing national phenomenon that some say is an illegal pyramid scheme and others say is a legal ...

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X The so-called gifting tables recently produced two more gifts for the U.S. Attorney’s office in ...

A federal judge sentenced the head of a “gifting table” pyramid scheme to 6 years in prison Tuesday and her accomplice to 41/2 years. Donna Bello, 57, and Jill Platt, 65, both of Guilford, were also ...

HARTFORD -- A few years ago, Donna Bello, Bettejane "BJ" Hopkins and Jill Platt were allegedly raking in the dough through the Women's Gifting Table. On Wednesday, the Shoreline trio stood before a ...

Thanks to coincidental timing, Shelley Marcus suddenly finds herself facing two high-profile lines of questioning at once—one involving her fitness to serve as a state judge, one involving a federal ...