Date: 10-07-2024

Case Style:

United States of America v. Sheldon Haag

Case Number: 1:23-CR-10167

Judge: Leo T. Sorokin

Court: The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (Suffolk County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: The United States Attorney’s Office in Boston

Defendant's Attorney:

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Description:

Boston, Massachusetts criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with Long Running Short Sale Fraud Scheme
Connecticut Real Estate Agent Sentenced to Prison for Defrauding Clients in Long Running Short Sale Fraud Scheme

Real estate agent, Sheldon Haag, ate 34, of Glastonbury, Connecticut, was accused of engaging in a multi-year scheme to defraud his clients by engaging in fraudulent short sales of government and bank-owned properties to straw buyers acting at the direction of the defendant and a co-conspirator.

Haag and another real estate agent, James Macchio, used straw buyers to acquire properties owned by the clients of a brokerage where they worked, which included banks, federal agencies, bankruptcy trustees and other mortgage holders. The straw buyers included a shell company set up by a co-conspirator as a purported construction company. Haag and his co-conspirators hid their involvement as the de facto buyers of short sale properties from their clients, the owners of the properties, and used their inside knowledge as the owner’s broker to minimize sale prices in order to maximize their gain from later “flipping” the properties.

While perpetrating the “flipping scheme,” Haag and his co-conspirators further defrauded clients by submitting fraudulent renovation bids from contractors to their own clients, including from the fake construction company they controlled through a co-conspirator. Once their clients accepted a fraudulent bid, Haag and his co-conspirators would hire different contractors at much lower cost and pocket the difference between the fraudulent bid and the actual cost of property repairs.

Macchio pleaded guilty in May 2024 and is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 19, 2024.

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; Harry Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office; and Christopher Algieri, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Field Office made the announcement today. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development provided valuable assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kriss Basil of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.

Outcome:

Defendant was found guilty and sentenced to one year and one day in prison and two years of supervised release

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

Comments: