Articles Posted in Real Estate Fraud

The Sacramento area has another real estate fraud case on its hands. The local U.S. Attorney’s office has filed charges against several individuals, as well as a mortgage lender, in an elaborate scheme to defraud investors.

Many people from the Sacramento area have been financially injured. I represent one of those defrauded investors in a case filed against Christopher Jackson and Genesis Innovations. For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that on September 2, 2010, a federal grand jury returned a nine-count indictment charging James Berghuis, 38, formerly of Sacramento, now residing in Laguna Niguel, with mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. The indictment was unsealed this afternoon as a result of Berghuis’s arrest earlier today.

The indictment alleges that Berghuis operated Berghuis National Lending Inc., a Sacramento mortgage and lending company. Berghuis offered short-term bridge loans for clients funded by private investors. Berghuis would identify clients in need of bridge loans and act as the intermediary between the clients and investors. The indictment alleges that beginning no later than April 2005, Berghuis began making material false representations to investors and using investor funds to pay off other investors, pay business expenses, and pay his personal expenses.

This case is the product of an extensive investigation by the FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Camil A. Skipper is prosecuting the case.

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The most recent high-profile real estate fraud case in the Sacramento area involves Christopher Jackson and his company, Genesis Innovations. But in 2009, a Roseville man was charged with defrauding investors in a similar scheme.

An FBI agent investigating a suspected $100 million real estate Ponzi scheme said the man at the center of the probe admitted deceiving his investors. Lawrence Leland “Lee” Loomis, 52, is the founder of Loomis Wealth Solutions and several related companies that the FBI and IRS believe defrauded hundreds of investors and lenders in a multi-layered investment scheme.

Among the allegations is that Loomis lulled investors in his NARAS fund into thinking their money was safe by sending them false statements indicating a steadily-increasing balance. Loomis’ literature promised a 12% annual return.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins. I represent a plaintiff in the real estate fraud case filed recently in Sacramento superior court against Christopher Jackson and Genesis Innovations.

FBI special agent Kathleen Nicolls said Loomis admitted the NARAS statements were false during an interview on August 15, 2009, eleven days before federal agents searched his Roseville offices and Granite Bay home. Agents hauled away hundreds of boxes of documents and dozens of computers.

The revelation came in a civil complaint filed in Sacramento federal court seeking to liquidate $462,300 in cash seized by court order last summer from two Washington Mutual bank accounts controlled by Loomis. The civil complaint sets the stage for a possible criminal indictment.

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Ponzi schemes are not limited to the likes of convicted felon Bernard Madoff. A similar plan to defraud real estate investors occurred right here in Sacramento during the past five years.

In the past week lawsuits have been filed in both federal and state courts against Christopher Jackson, Genesis Innovations, and others for real estate fraud and related illegal schemes. The federal complaint alleges that between 2005 and 2009, Jackson, using the corporate name Genesis Innovations, recruited people to invest in real estate. The complaint also alleges that he promised them a 14 percent return and persuaded them to entrust him with their retirement savings.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

A local newspaper reported that according to the complaint, Jackson received about $11 million dollars from investors but invested only abut $2.5 million in real estate. The rest of the money, the complaint alleges, was used to distribute purported investment returns and to fund Jackson’s lavish lifestyle, which included a leased Lamborghini and Range Rover, a purchased BMW, frequent meals at high-end restaurants, stays at luxury hotels and jewelry.

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