Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: California real estate investor charged in bid rigging probe, (Sep 6, 2013)

By Jeffrey May, J.D.

Another California real estate investor has agreed to plead guilty for his role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California, the Department of Justice announced yesterday. Felony charges were filed on September 5 in the federal district court in San Francisco against Daniel Rosenbledt. Rosenbledt is the 36th individual to plead guilty or agree to plead guilty as a result of the Justice Department’s ongoing antitrust investigations into bid rigging and fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California, according to the Justice Department (U.S. v. Rosenbledt, CR 13 587, filed September 5, 2013).

Rosenbledt was charged with conspiring with others not to bid against one another, but instead to designate a winning bidder to obtain selected properties at public real estate foreclosure auctions in California’s San Mateo and San Francisco counties between 2008 and 2011. Rosenbledt also was charged with conspiring to use the mail to carry out schemes to fraudulently acquire title to selected properties sold at public auctions, to make and receive payoffs, and to divert to co-conspirators money that would have otherwise gone to mortgage holders and others.

The case against Rosenbledt is the latest charge filed by the Justice Department in its ongoing investigation into bid rigging and fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in California’s San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties. The earliest actions were brought in 2011.

Alabama real estate foreclosure industry investigation. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, a new case was recently filed as a result of the government’s investigation into foreclosure auctions in Alabama. A half dozen Alabama real estate investors were charged in 2011 and 2012 for their roles in bid rigging conspiracies.

This latest charge is against Ali Forouzan, an auction participant, for allegedly making false statements in February 2012 to Antitrust Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigators about his knowledge of, and participation in, the fraudulent schemes under investigation in Alabama (U.S. v. Forouzan, 1:13-cr-00194-CG, filed August 23, 2013). A plea hearing is expected in the case is expected later this month.

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