One of three co-defendants in a multi-million dollar real estate scheme targeting Southern California home buyers was sentenced to two years in prison on Monday.
Daniel Deaibas will spend two years in prison for his role in a real estate deed theft scheme where he and his co-conspirators fraudulently assumed ownership of multi-million dollar homes and sold them to unsuspecting buyers.
Deaibas, as well as Mazen Alzoubi and Mohamed Daoud who were also named in the case, were accused of generating fake deeds to create the illusion of sale of homes from owners to a fake real estate investment business the three of them controlled. Forged signatures and notary stamps, and fake identification were used to make documents appear legitimate while the real owners of the home were completely unaware.
The three men were accused of attempting to sell at least 15 homes worth more than $3.6 million and successfully sold at least 10 of them, earning nearly $2.2 million in the process. Once they had the money, the co-conspirators would divert the earnings to their personal bank accounts and send the money overseas.
On at least three occasions, Deaibas posed as John Moran, a man that did not exist, and presented fake identification to notaries to sign title documents and property deeds.
Deaibas pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme in March 2015. In addition to his sentence, he was ordered to pay $1,819,591 in restitution to the victims of the fraud.
Alzoubi, the ring leader of the scheme according to court documents, assumed multiple fake identities to list the properties and pose as the owner to buyers, escrow companies and title officers. In at least one instance, Alzoubi posed as a real person, the attorney of the owners of one of the homes he sold, in front of an undercover federal agent.
Local
Alzoubi pled guilty to aggravated identity theft in January 2016 which carries a mandatory prison sentence of two years. He will be sentenced for additional money laundering fraud charges on November 7 by U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant, the same judge who handed down the two-year sentence to Deaibas.
Daoud pled guilty to helping Alzoubi launder the money made from the scheme and to using his company, Norway LLC, to fraudulently acquire titles to some for the properties they attempted to sell.
Daoud fled the United States in December 2015 before he was sentenced and is considered a fugitive.
