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A former San Diego real estate agent was sentenced to more than five years in prison for orchestrating a fraud scheme that scammed investors out of millions of dollars.
According to FOX5, the ex-real estate agent Alexander Avergoon was also ordered to pay almost $10 million in restitution.
On Monday, January 3, Avergoon pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection to what prosecutors called a series of investment fraud schemes spanning nearly a decade.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said he persuaded more than a dozen investors to partner with him to buy real estate properties like apartment buildings and split the income from renting out the properties.
But prosecutors said Avergoon didn't use the investor funds to buy properties and he forged documents in order to make the investments seem legitimate.
Avergoon instead used investor money to fund short-term, low-risk loans and created fake loan agreements, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors alleged Avergoon used investor funds to make monthly payments to the victims, which he passed off as rent payments from tenants at the nonexistent properties or payments that proved the short-term loans were performing.
While Avergoon's 64-month sentence is for the real estate scheme, federal prosecutors claim he has assisted former Chabad of Poway Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein in other fraudulent schemes.