San Diego Real Estate Investor Pleads Guilty

A San Diego real estate investor pleads guilty to five counts in federal court. The investor, 32-year-old Mazen Alzoubi, admitted to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud charges, aggravated identity theft charges, and conspiracy to launder money charges, among others.

In a two-year period that ended in August 2014, Alzoubi fraudulently sold homes to unknowing buyers. Prosecutors knew of at least fifteen successful and attempted fraudulent sales. For his efforts, Alzoubi was able to amass more than $2.2 million from illegal sales out of an attempted $3.6 million.

Alzoubi went as far as to created forged trust deeds, so it would appear to buyers that Alzoubi was selling the homes on behalf of a legitimate client. He would file the deeds with the county, in which instances the true owners were sometimes alerted to the fraudulent sale and took steps to secure their property.

Multiple other men were caught in the string of fraudulent sales. Mohamed Daoud of Norward and Daniel Deaibes of Rancho Cucamonga were also arrested and charged. Daoud admitted to assisting with money laundering while Deaibes admitted that he had fraudulent documents under a false name that could be used to sell properties he did not own.

This sophisticated and well thought out crime involved fake identification and other documents used to trick people into buying a home that they had no idea was not really for sale by the true owners.

Always be on the lookout for anything that seems off when working with an agent. Good interview questions and references may have helped these buyers save their $2.2 million that was handed over to the fraudsters.

That’s what we suggest starting your real estate agent search at AgentHarvest. Our list of pre-vetted agents are ones you know you can work with in confidence. Before you start your home search, start your search for the right agent at AgentHarvest.

Read the entire story at the San Diego Union-Tribune.