Real estate investor headed to prison in Atlanta fraud scheme

The head of a commercial real estate capital firm has been sentenced to months in prison and ordered to pay million in restitution in a fraud scheme involving the Atlanta Financial Center in Buckhead Elchonon Elie Schwartz of New York City pleaded guilty in February to one count of wire fraud Schwartz convinced more than investors to send him million including million earmarked for the huge office building on Peachtree Road Instead of using the money for legitimate purposes he diverted it into buying luxury items for his own use Schwartz s greed was boundless explained Theodore S Hertzberg interim U S attorney for the Northern District of Georgia He callously abused the trust of hundreds of investors to line his own bank accounts Schwartz s sentence reflects our office s commitment to hold fraudsters accountable for exploiting investors who innocently rely on their false representations According to court records Schwartz set up a crowdfunding website CrowdStreet Marketplace that raised nearly million including million for the Atlanta Financial Center and million for a mixed-use building in Miami Beach He represented to investors that he would safeguard their funds within segregated bank accounts would not commingle the investors money and would use the funds only for stake in each property Schwartz then directed the money into his personal bank account as well as unrelated commercial real estate investments he controlled using it to buy luxury watches invest in stocks and options in a personal brokerage account and cover payroll expenses for unrelated commercial real estate businesses The occurrence was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the Protection and Exchange Commission s Division of Enforcement Along with the jail time and restitution order Schwartz was sentenced to three years of supervised release after he completes his prison term The post Real estate investor headed to prison in Atlanta fraud scheme appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta