A real estate investor from Social Circle, Ga., faces 20 years in prison for wire fraud and five years in prison for bankruptcy fraud after pleading guilty to a $3 million wire and bankruptcy fraud scheme.
Sean Tissue, also known as “Sean Ryan,” 37, pleaded guilty Feb. 28 to wire fraud and bankruptcy fraud before U. S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith, according to a March 1 news release.
“Sean Tissue orchestrated an elaborate scheme to defraud individual investors. He tried to avoid repaying those investors by declaring bankruptcy, and his lies and deceits continued in the bankruptcy proceeding,” U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said in the release. “This guilty plea is an important step toward holding Mr. Tissue accountable for his actions and reflects my office’s commitment to prosecuting financial crime and protecting the integrity of the bankruptcy system.”
Formerly of Rochester, Mich., Tissue owned several companies, including The Centureon Companies LLC, Greystone Home Builders LLC, Sycamore Homes LLC, Lenovo Homes LLC, NROL Holdings LLC, Phillip Ryan LLC, Boardwalk Heights B2R LLC, NROL Property and Investment LLC, the release reported.
From 2015 through 2021, Tissue operated a real estate investment fraud scheme in the Eastern District of Michigan in which he “made, or caused others to make, false and fraudulent representations to induce potential investors from Israel, India, South Africa and other countries to invest in real estate in Michigan, Texas and other locations,” the release reported.
False information was given to investors to induce them to invest and send Tissue money through interstate or international wire transactions. He fraudulently received more than $3 million, according to the release.
“In November 2017 through May 9, 2019, Tissue also engaged in bankruptcy fraud scheme by fraudulently withholding recorded information pertaining to his assets and financial affairs from the Bankruptcy Trustee after filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy,” the release said. “Tissue was initially arrested on a complaint charging him with wire fraud and has been in custody ever since.”
Tissue tried to escape the consequences of defrauding his real estate clients by declaring bankruptcy, James Tarasca, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit Division, said in the release.
“His actions not only harmed individual clients, but also impacted potential investments in the city of Detroit,” Tarasca said in the release. “The FBI will continue to work with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Bankruptcy Trustee to ensure the public’s continued trust in the bankruptcy process and to hold accountable those who would use our bankruptcy courts as a means of committing fraud.”
