Sacramento Feds Score Another Guilty Plea As 5th Defendant Goes Down In Foreclosure Sale Bid Rigging Conspiracy

In Sacramento, California, the San Jose Mercury News reports:

• Federal prosecutors say a Northern California man has pleaded guilty to conspiring to rig bids at foreclosure auctions in a county among the hardest hit by the real estate bust. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California says 38-year-old Yama Marifat of Pleasanton pleaded guilty Friday to the conspiracy.

• Prosecutors say Marifat and a group of real estate speculators agreed not to bid against each other at San Joaquin County public foreclosure auctions to keep prices down. The group would then hold a private auction where the property went to the conspirator willing to pay the most above the public price. The speculators would split the difference between the prices at public and private auction as a payoff among themselves.

• Marifat faces up to 10 years in prison for bid rigging and 30 years for mail fraud, plus fines up to at least $2 million. The U.S. Attorney's Office says Marifat is the fifth person to plead guilty in connection with the conspiracy, which was uncovered as part of an ongoing federal investigation into fraud and bid-rigging in real estate auctions in San Joaquin County.(1)

Source: Calif man pleads guilty to foreclosure bid rigging.

For the U.S. Attorney press release, see Real Estate Investor Pleads Guilty to Bid Rigging at Public Foreclosure Auctions.

Go here for other posts & links on bid rigging at foreclosure and other real estate-related auctions.

(1) Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or fraud related to real estate foreclosure auctions should contact the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office at 415-436-6660, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California at 916-554-2700 or the FBI’s Sacramento Division at 916-481-9110.