A New Jersey real estate investor admitted Monday that he was involved in a massive, far-reaching $54.7 million mortgage fraud scheme, federal prosecutors said.
Puretz was an employee of Apex Equity Group, a Newark-based real estate investment and advisory firm, as well as being one of the owners of Maple Lawn in Eureka, Illinois, and Big Country Chateau in Little Rock, Arkansas, both multifamily properties, and Troy Technology Park in Troy, Michigan, a commercial property, authorities said.
On Feb. 17, 2017, a Lakewood-based title and settlement company, which was not identified by authorities, performed two closings, one for the true $4.1 million sales price and another for the fraudulent $5.8 million price presented to the lender, investigators said. The next year, in September, Troy Technology Park was acquired for $42.7 million and Puretz and his co-conspirators presented the lender with a fraudulent purchase and sale contract for $70 million, authorities said.