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Washington, D.C. - (November 20, 2007) - A District of Columbia man, Robert Frank Miller, also known as Robert Franklin Miller, 54, was found guilty today by a federal jury of all 11 counts in an indictment that charged him with defrauding real estate investors of over $400,000 from July of 2003 through April of 2004, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor announced.
Specifically, Miller was charged with two counts of wire fraud and nine counts of inducing victims to travel across state lines in execution of a scheme to defraud. Miller faces a maximum of 20 years of imprisonment on each count of wire fraud and a maximum of 10 years of imprisonment on each count of inducing victims to travel across state lines in execution of a scheme to defraud. He faces a maximum $250,000 fine for each count and restitution for all victim losses. The Honorable Richard J. Leon set the sentencing hearing for March 18, 2007.
Miller operated and controlled American Funding and Investment Corporation (AFIC), purporting to offer high-profit real estate investment opportunities to investors and also mortgage financing to individuals with poor credit ratings. Miller falsely represented to investors that he and AFIC: 1) had purchased or were in the process of purchasing groups of properties in Baltimore and Atlanta; 2) would produce guaranteed profits for investors of between 15 to 100 percent payable every 90 days; 3) owned a mortgage company and bank and could obtain mortgages for people with poor credit ratings; and 4) ran the largest foreclosure company in the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland. Miller did not place investors’ funds as he had represented, but rather used them for his own benefit, to make rent and advertising payments, to pay employees and to make lulling payments to investors to create the illusion that the investment programs were actually producing profits.
In announcing the guilty verdicts, U.S. Attorney Taylor praised the work of U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Anthony Saler and Criminal Research Specialist Carrie Finch, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General Special Agent Lori DiCriscio, U.S. Attorney’s Office Paralegals Melanie Howard and Jeanie Latimore-Brown, Legal Assistants Teesha Tobias, Lisa Robinson and Mike Thompson, Auditor Robert Jodoin and Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Griffith, Michael Atkinson and Jonathan Barr and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Chad Sarchio.
SOURCE: United States Department Of Justice - District of Columbia
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