Christiansen said she and her husband had invested about $200,000 of their retirement money into one of Randall's businesses in 2006 at the suggestion of their financial advisor and had been receiving interest payments from that. Two years later, when her husband was terminally ill, he was looking for a way to provide for her after he was gone and Randall came to their home in August 2008 to pitch the car loan investment, she said.