Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Real estate investor agrees to plead guilty in California bid rigging, fraud conspiracies, (Apr 3, 2015)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

Ramin Yeganeh, a Northern California real estate investor, has agreed to plead guilty to charges filed yesterday in the federal district court in Oakland, California. The Justice Department Antitrust Division has charged Yeganeh with conspiring to rig bids and engaging in fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California (U.S. v. Yeganeh, Crim. No. CR15-00193).

According to the information, between May 2008 and October 2010, Yeganeh conspired with others not to bid against each other at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Alameda County, but to designate a winning bidder to obtain particular properties. He allegedly used the mail to carry out the fraudulent scheme to obtain title to certain properties sold at public auctions, to make and receive payoffs, and to divert money to co-conspirators that would have otherwise been remitted to mortgage holders and other beneficiaries. Yeganeh purportedly used second, private auctions open only to members of the conspiracy and awarded certain properties to the conspirators who made the highest bids.

“Our Northern California real estate investigations have yielded more pleas than any other Antitrust Division matter in recent memory, but our work is not done,” stated Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “The sheer number of individuals involved in these conspiracies only emphasizes how critical it is that we remain committed to investigating and prosecuting those who have corrupted the public foreclosure auction process.”

To date, 52 people have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges stemming from the Justice Department’s ongoing antitrust investigations into bid rigging and fraud at public foreclosure auctions in Northern California. Twenty additional real estate investors have also been charged for their roles in bid rigging and fraud schemes at foreclosure auctions in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and San Francisco counties.

News: Antitrust AntitrustDivisionNews