WILMINGTON, Del. – David C. Weiss, United States Attorney
for the District of Delaware, announced today that Carl Chen, owner of Chenmax
Properties, Inc., a Delaware Real Estate Investment Trust, and part-owner of
Re/Max Sunvest Realty Co., pled guilty in federal court yesterday to wire-fraud
charges for defrauding investors. Chen’s
sentencing is scheduled June 21, 2019 before the Honorable Richard G. Andrews,
United States District Judge for the District of Delaware. Chen faces a maximum
penalty of 20 years of imprisonment.
According to court documents and statements made in open
court, between 2013 and 2017, Chen a solicited Re/Max Sunvest Realty clients
and others to invest $3.32 million,.
Chen fraudulently represented the funds would be used to purchase real
estate which would provide annual interest returns of 10% to 15% for the
investors. Instead, Chen diverted the
money from later investors to pay off interest obligations to prior investors.
In October 2017, Chen declared bankruptcy in the United
States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, seeking to discharge
millions in debts he owed to investors.
U.S. Attorney Weiss stated, “The defendant callously
targeted vulnerable individuals and then defrauded them out of their
hard-earned savings. My office will
continue to prosecute those who seek to profit by criminally exploiting
others.”
“The FBI in Delaware will continue to aggressively pursue
those who defraud unknowing or unsuspecting victims who place their trust in
individuals who misrepresent themselves as professionals," said FBI
Baltimore Acting Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Moore. "These individuals, who prey on
investors, enrich themselves and cause financial damage which may take years,
if ever, for the victims to recover.”
This case was investigated by the FBI and the Office of the
United States Trustee and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney
Alexander P. Ibrahim and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Hannah McCollum.
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