The deal with Pennsylvania's Office of Attorney General is the state's first enforcement action against the real estate company ABC Capital. Jay Walsh, who ran ABC, faces criminal charges in Maryland.
The attorney general’s case dealt only with the conditions of rental properties and did not extend to ABC’s alleged fraud on investors. The office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.that found Walsh and his partners collected funds from hundreds of investors from more than a half-dozen countries with promises to buy, renovate, and rent out rowhouses to generate steady returns.
Walsh is separately facing criminal charges in Maryland for allegedly stealing $20,500 an investor had paid in advance for renovations,ABC has been hit with more than a dozen civil suits in federal court under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and has $3.3 million in outstanding judgments against it in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.
“In our view … the ABC bankruptcies were brought in bad faith, and serve no other purpose but to delay legitimate litigation,” said L. Anthony DiGiacomo III, a lawyer representing investors who say they were cheated by ABC.