I'm desperate and need your help

Part B-I've always wanted to get involved with direct marketing projects. So as I mentioned in the 1st post I contacted a very well known copywriter. I had read his newsletters on the web. He mentioned he had tons of ideas for different promotions but didn't have the time. But you could hire him at 15k and he would write an ad for the promotion and we would share in the profits. I contacted him because as I said he was "the Best." After I sent the money(he liked handshake agreements) we would get started. Well it took me a few weeks to get a hold of him and then he changed his tune and wanted me to come up with my own idea and he would write the ad. Then he said his friend was running a skin creme promotion that had been tested and just needed money to roll out. Gary said this promotion was a winner and I could make a lot of money. By the way a picture of his girlfriend was in the ad. So I sent a ton more money. A few weeks more went by and Gary finally called. I gave him an idea for the promotion - a real estate information product. He said he would get to it soon - but in April he died. Long story short I contacted the estate to try to get my money back and it was a losing cause. This copywriter might have been honest in the past but as I found out I wasn't the first guy he ripped off. In the later years he was going off reputation and I bought into it