Realtors caught in auction con

Over a period of thirteen months from September 2008 through October the following year a group of fraudsters, including two licensed real estate brokers are charged with rigging public foreclosure auctions in San Joaquin, California.

USA real estate prices have crashed through the floor in recent years following the global banking cirsis and the numbers of residential real estate foreclosures continue to mount every month causing misery to millions of hardworking American families.

Not content to pick up bargain priced properties legally a group of six individuals set up a scam to bid for properties at artificially low prices then sell on at a private auction, involving homes totaling more than $10million, at a higher more realistic price and splitting the 'illicit profit' between themselves.

All six have entered guilty pleas in the ongoing investigation involving the US Department of Justice, the FBI and the San Joaquin District Attorney's Office. The maximum penalty is a $1million fine and up to ten years behind bars.