ATLANTA - Emily Moerdermo Fu, a metro Atlanta realtor and businesswoman, who defrauded clients out of more than $22 million dollars over a 2-year period, pleaded guilty to mail fraud on July 12, 2018.
“Real estate professionals who embezzle their clients’ investment funds threaten the integrity of our real estate market," said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay" Pak. “Investors must remain vigilant against fictitious loans, made-up closings, and other schemes by licensed professionals before they invest their monies."
“The defendant used her position as a well-regarded realtor to defraud money from hardworking investors for her own personal financial gain," said Scott D. Fix, Acting U.S. Postal Inspector in Charge of the Charlotte Division. “Postal Inspectors will continue to vigorously pursue and bring to justice those individuals who use the U.S. mail to commit crimes."
According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: Fu operated Capital Investment International Management, Inc., a company located in Suwanee, Georgia, that offered a wide range of services to investors in commercial properties around the Atlanta area, including investment recommendations, property financing and acquisition, and management services.
From 2004 to 2017, Fu established several investment companies for a group of clients for the supposed purchase of commercial real estate in Forsyth, Gwinnett, Fulton, and other metro counties. In November 2017, the investors discovered irregularities in the records of some of the investment companies and confronted Fu, who admitted to embezzling around $930,000. Through queries into county property databases and other investigations, it was determined that Fu had never followed through on several commercial real estate purchases, each valued in the millions of dollars. The properties included medical and shopping centers in Atlanta and across the northern metro area.
Fu told her victims that she had completed the closings and was managing the properties, when in fact, she had diverted the loans and investment funds for these “ghost purchases" for her own purposes. She also used properties, purchased by the investors with cash, as collateral for unauthorized loans which she then pocketed. Fu had been a prominent real estate professional, whose recognitions included “Individual of the Year - Governor’s International Award" in Georgia in 2012.
Sentencing for Emily Fu, 57, of Atlanta, Georgia has not been scheduled.
This case is being investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Pearce is prosecuting the case.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
