Post by Logan on Feb 6, 2016 2:08:09 GMT -6
L.A. developers accused of stealing millions in affordable-housing scheme
Two executives at a Los Angeles-based real estate development company and two of their employees have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges they defrauded government agencies of millions of dollars in funds for housing low-income families.
The 67-page indictment says Salim Karimi and three others at Advanced Development and Investment Inc. engaged in a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain more than $50 million in loan proceeds for affordable housing projects in Chinatown, Hollywood, Glendale and elsewhere.
As part of the scheme, Karimi and others submitted fraudulent invoices that “significantly overstated” the true costs of framing, plumbing, drywall and other construction work at affordable housing projects that were built with taxpayer support, according to the federal grand jury indictment, which was filed in 2014 and unsealed earlier this week.
Karimi, ADI’s onetime president and co-owner, was arrested Dec. 26 at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, India, as he was boarding a plane to Mexico, according to Indian police. He was released roughly a week later on bail of 15,000 rupees, or around $225. He has been charged in absentia with felony counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, tax evasion and making false statements to a federal financial institution.
Read more: www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-housing-indictment-20160205-story.html
Two executives at a Los Angeles-based real estate development company and two of their employees have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges they defrauded government agencies of millions of dollars in funds for housing low-income families.
The 67-page indictment says Salim Karimi and three others at Advanced Development and Investment Inc. engaged in a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain more than $50 million in loan proceeds for affordable housing projects in Chinatown, Hollywood, Glendale and elsewhere.
As part of the scheme, Karimi and others submitted fraudulent invoices that “significantly overstated” the true costs of framing, plumbing, drywall and other construction work at affordable housing projects that were built with taxpayer support, according to the federal grand jury indictment, which was filed in 2014 and unsealed earlier this week.
Karimi, ADI’s onetime president and co-owner, was arrested Dec. 26 at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, India, as he was boarding a plane to Mexico, according to Indian police. He was released roughly a week later on bail of 15,000 rupees, or around $225. He has been charged in absentia with felony counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, tax evasion and making false statements to a federal financial institution.
Read more: www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-housing-indictment-20160205-story.html