Foreclosure Fraud Alert-DC Man Sells Home He Didn't Own

DC Man Pleads Guilty to Selling Homes He Didn't Own

George A. Cowser pled guilty today to engaging in a fraud scheme in which he obtained money by selling or offering to sell homes he did not own in the District of Columbia.

According to the indictment, Cowser, 60, of the 1700 block of Gales Street, N.E., entered his plea at a hearing today in U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia before the Honorable Judge James Robertson. During the plea hearing, Cowser admitted that the government had sufficient evidence to convict him of the fraud scheme and to forfeit a vehicle he had purchased with proceeds from the scheme. He also acknowledged that the government could prove that the intended loss to victims from the scheme was over $1,000,000. Cowser, who pled to all the counts in the indictment, faces up to 110 years in prison under the federal and local fraud statutes when sentenced later this year, but likely will face up to 87 months of imprisonment under the Federal and D.C. Sentencing Guidelines.

According to the indictment to which defendant pled guilty, between May of 2005 and March of 2006, Cowser devised a scheme to defraud owners of property, individual buyers, and a mortgage company, among others, and obtain money and property from these owners, buyers and the mortgage company by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises. The purpose of this scheme was for Cowser to sell or attempt to sell real estate property in the District of Columbia that he claimed to own personally, or in the name of a company he formed, Reverse Properties, Inc. Neither Cowser nor Reverse owned these properties, had an independent claim of ownership to these properties, or had any contract to sell these properties for the true owners. Even though Cowser knew he did not own these properties, he signed sales contracts, and closed on the transfer of D.C. real estate properties for significant personal profit at the expense of the true owners, defrauded buyers, and financial institutions.

As part of the scheme, Cowser profited, and caused real estate property to be transferred to him or Reverse. Specifically, Cowser used a forged deed to claim ownership of a home in the 1300 block of West Virginia Avenue, N.E. He attempted to sell the property to three separate individuals, obtaining money from all three, and actually engaging in two separate closings on a sale to two separate persons in the same week in February of 2006. As a result of these two closings, over $540,000 was given to Cowser or a corporate designee of Cowser. Cowser used some of these proceeds to purchase a 2006 Mitsubishi Outlander XL.

Cowser also attempted to fraudulently sell at least two other houses to buyers, one in the 1200 block of Orren Street, N.E., and the other in the 1300 block of W Street, S.E. He did so by signing fraudulent quit claim deeds and recording the quit claim deeds with the D.C. Recorder of Deeds. He then obtained money from the purported buyers, unbeknownst to the true owners. The sales did not successfully close, however, because the fraud regarding the West Virginia Avenue property, discussed above, became known. Nevertheless, the purported buyers were not able to recover all of their money that they had given to Cowser and the owner of one of the properties had her personal property damaged, including antique furniture, when it was moved out of her house without her knowledge during the attempted sale.

Moreover, Cowser was on release to the community pending trial with a condition of not engaging in similar fraudulent sales of real estate. Shortly before his trial, however, Judge Robertson ordered Cowser taken into custody based on Cowser’s allegedly engaging in such sales while on release.

In announcing today’s guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Taylor, Assistant Director Persichini and Inspector in Charge Cottrell praised the hard work of the investigative agents involved in this matter, especially FBI Special Agent Mary Soudrette and Postal Inspector Jeremy Wiesel. They also acknowledged the efforts of Legal Assistant Teesha Tobias, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tejpal Chawla and Daniel Butler, who are prosecuting this matter, and AUSA Diane Lucas, who is handling the forfeiture action against the proceeds and resulting vehicle obtained by Cowser.

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