Mortgages: Los Angeles debt advisor ran ponzi scheme targetting his clients
Alfred Eugene Parker, 32, of Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, has been sentenced for running a ponzi fraud which netted him USD in one year, targeting people threatened with repossession of their homes. The irony was that he was a "debt counsellor at a non-profit agency" which was supposed to help those in dire straits. But it was how he raised the money that seeded the scam that has drawn attention to the case in Tinsel Town.
The FBI's investigation found that, in late 2006, Parker started an investment company—Skyline Investment Group—that he used to solicit investors with promises that their money would be used to help needy homeowners who were facing foreclosure on their homes. Targeting primarily African-American victims, including professional athletes and people in the entertainment industry, Parker and Skyline lured investors with “guaranteed” returns as high as 40 percent in less than three months.
Instead of using investors’ money to help distressed homeowners, Parker used the money to finance a luxurious lifestyle, which included a Rolls-Royce Phantom, two Ferraris, a USD2.5 million home and trips to high-end resorts in Hawaii and Santa Barbara. Parker also used some of the money to make Ponzi payments to earlier investors.
In November 2007, Parker sought a USD1 million line of credit from Broadway Federal Bank. When applying for the loan, Parker submitted forged documents to the bank and falsely claimed that he had USD2 million in savings and that he owned valuable real estate in Los Angeles and Cleveland. When the bank approved a USD200,000 line of credit, Parker drew down the funds in less than two months.
Parker was convicted in September 2010 but sentenced yesterday to 46 months in federal prison for various offences including wire fraud which is a means to bringing a state case within federal jurisdiction.
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