A man from New Jersey pleaded guilty to leading a large, multi-year plot to steal over $54.7 million in loans from lenders and buy many business and multifamily properties.
Court papers showed that Aron Puretz, 53, carefully planned with others over six years to trick lenders into giving them commercial and multifamily mortgage loans from 2016 to 2022.
Puretz and his accomplices lied to the lenders by giving them fake papers like fake financial statements, buy contracts with inflated prices, and other fake papers.
The 53-year-old man worked for Apex Equity Group, a real estate investment and advisory firm. He was also one of the owners of the multifamily properties Maple Lawn in Eureka, Illinois, and Big Country Chateau in Little Rock, Arkansas, as well as the commercial property Troy Technology Park in Troy, Michigan.
Maple Lawn, a property in the middle of the neighborhood, was bought for $4.1 million in February 2017. To trick a lender and Freddie Mac, Puretz and his Apex Equity Group partners used the name of another partner to show them a fake $5.8 million purchase and sale contract and other documents.
A Lakewood, New Jersey-based title and settlement company held two closings on February 17, 2017, one for the real sales price of $4.1 million and the other for the fake $5.8 million sales price that was given to the lender.
Part of the plan was to make a nonprofit called JPC Charities so that Puretz and his partners could get tax-free status for the properties they held.
Puretz and his partners lied to the city of Eureka, Illinois, in order to get a property tax break, which had a negative effect on the community even more.
According to court records, Puretz and his partners bought Big Country Chateau in July 2019.
But Puretz knew that the lender and Freddie Mac would not like him as an owner, so he lied about his own name and used that of a friend.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development and other federal and state agencies did not know that Puretz owned the property management company or had any other connection with it.
In September 2020, $42.7 million was paid for Troy Technology Park. However, Puretz and his partners in crime gave the backer a fake $70 million purchase and sale agreement.
Along with other fake papers, Puretz and his partners in crime gave the lender and evaluator a letter of intent to buy the property from someone else for $68 million that was not real. This was done to support the inflated purchase price.
Puretz and his partners in crime set up a short-term $30 million loan to make it look like they had the money to close on the loan. This was done to hide the fact that the deal was a scam.
A Lakewood, New Jersey-based title and settlement company held two closings on September 25, 2020. One was for the real $42.7 million sales price, and the other was for the fake $70 million sales price that was given to the funder.
The man, who is 53 years old, admitted to one count of plotting to commit wire fraud against a financial company.
Puretz is set to be judged on October 30, and the worst punishment that could happen is five years in prison.
The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other legal factors will be used by a federal district court judge to decide on any punishment.
Source: Clickondetroit
