Fort Myers, Florida - U.S. District Judge John E. Steele today sentenced Aaron Eyerman (38, Cape Coral), a former southwest Florida real estate broker to 5 years and 10 months in federal prison wire fraud, money laundering, and false oath in relation to a bankruptcy proceeding. As part of his sentence, the court also entered a money judgment of $562,407.38, the proceeds of the charged criminal conduct.
Eyerman was found guilty by a jury on June 4, 2019.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Eyerman met the victim, a retired schoolteacher from Pennsylvania, working in the real estate industry. In 2015, Eyerman made false statements to the victim and convinced her to invest $300,000 in a real estate venture. Specifically, Eyerman indicated they would “flip" houses; that is, buy, rehab, and re-sell properties. Instead of using the money for that purpose, Eyerman gambled away a large portion of the money at casinos and, over a matter of seven weeks, spent the remainder on personal luxury goods, including a custom Porsche 911, a $12,700 Rolex watch, and a $50,000 down payment on his personal luxury waterfront residence in Cape Coral.
Without telling the victim that he had already spent all of her initial investment, Eyerman went back to her in August 2015, seeking seek more money. This time, Eyerman lied about a second business opportunity - a purported new home construction company. Eyerman convinced the victim to provide him with another $261,000, which he immediately spent for personal use, including gambling most of it away at the Seminole Indian Casino in Immokalee. In total, Eyerman defrauded the victim of $561,000.
After the victim sued to get her money back, Eyerman declared bankruptcy to avoid his debt, and lied under oath about how he had spent the money.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Charles Schmitz and Kyle Cohen.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
