A San Diego real estate agent has been sentenced to 64 months in prison for defrauding investors through multiple Ponzi real estate investment schemes.
According a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice, San Diego real estate agent Alexander Avergoon also admitted to participating in multiple tax evasion and fraud schemes with Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, former director at Chabad of Poway.
"This defendant is a prolific fraudster who has stolen millions of dollars from the many victims of his devious schemes," U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said, according to the press release. "It’s now his turn to pay the price for his crimes."
The court has ordered Avergoon to pay $9,679,306.70 in restitution to several of the victims of his crimes.
"Mr. Avergoon victimized dozens of investors twofold, by not only swindling them out of millions of dollars, but also recruiting victim-investors to commit tax fraud," Ryan L. Korner of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Los Angeles Field Office and the Special Agent in Charge said, according to the press release. "Today’s sentencing sends a clear message that IRS Criminal Investigation will pursue and hold accountable financial fraudsters who deceive and cheat people seeking to invest in our real estate and lending markets."
Avergoon will also be required to forfeit to the United States the proceeds of his criminal activity which amounted to $5,205,234.41.
