A New Jersey man has been sentenced to six years in prison for running a scam that victimized distressed homeowners and private investors.
Randy Poulson, 44, of Woolwich Township, N.J., was accused of netting about $3 million in illegal profits from his fraudulent scheme, according to a Justice Department news release.
Poulson, working through his businesses Equity Capital Investments, Poulson Russo LLC and South Jersey Real Estate Investors Associates, lured victims into attending his paid seminars on real estate.
His scheme also included promises to pay the mortgages of homeowners who faced foreclosure, if they sold him their homes. After obtaining the deed, he would then stop making mortgage payments, causing the loans to default.
He also conned his seminar attendees to make investments in his firms, telling them their money would be used to acquire and rehabilitate property, which he would then rent out and later sell for a 10% to 20% return on the investment.
The properties were those that he obtained from the distressed homeowners. But instead of using his seminar attendees' funds to rehab the properties, he used the money on personal expenses.
