BOSTON — A Lexington woman is accused of defrauding investors out of more than $7 million over the last 6 years, Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin said Tuesday.
Barbara Hirshfield allegedly used her family’s well-known business in western Massachusetts as a front for a Ponzi scheme, according to a complaint filed by Galvin’s Securities Division.
Hirshfield offered and sold investment notes through Ideal Financial Holdings Inc., the complaint alleges.
Investors who purchased the promissory notes believed that they were investing in Hirshfield’s family business, which had for decades offered motor vehicle financing and small loans.
Instead, the complaint alleges that since at least 2019, Hirshfield operated Ideal as a Ponzi scheme, using money raised from new investors to make interest payments to existing note holders.
Since early spring, the Massachusetts Securities Division has received 54 complaints from investors who have not received money that was owed to them by Ideal, Galviin said.
Ideal Financial Holdings began as Ideal Budget Plan Inc. in 1948, when Hirshfield’s father opened the company in Springfield, the complaint states.
The company operated for many years providing financing to consumers purchasing furniture, home appliances, and ultimately motor vehicles. In 2012, the Massachusetts Division of Banks ordered Ideal to cease soliciting outside funds to finance its business, Galvin said.
In 2014, the Division of Banks revoked Ideal’s license to operate in Massachusetts.
Despite losing its license, the complaint alleges that Ideal continued to sell promissory notes and pay interest to existing note holders, with no underlying revenue stream.
In order to make interest payments owed to existing investors, Hirshfield continued to solicit new investors.
Since 2019, Ideal raised more than $7.6 million from at least 180 investors, approximately $7.2 million of which was used to pay interest or repay principal to other investors, the complaint alleges.
Investors began having issues with payments in the fall of 2024, with all payments stopping in April 2025.
Hirshfield continued to raise funds from investors through April.
According to the complaint, due to the company’s long history in the area, a large portion of the affected investors are residents of the Springfield area, descended from those who invested in Ideal in its early years.
Many of the victims of this Ponzi scheme are related to one another, Galvin said.
The complaint alleges that Ideal’s “fraudulent business operations have deprived families of retirement funds, funds for unexpected expenses, and of financial security as they prepare to send their children and grandchildren off to college.”
“Hirshfield’s actions have devastated the friends and families she and Ideal preyed upon for decades, robbing one investor to pay another until new investors stopped appearing,” the complaint states.
With the complaint, Galvin said the Securities Division is seeking an order requiring the respondents to cease and desist any practices in violation of state securities laws and regulations, “disgorgement of all ill-gotten gains,” and that offers of rescission, with interest, be made to all investors.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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