Here is another example of a recent case involving a real estate professional (and two others) who thought that she could make a few quick bucks by falsely inflating the purchase price of homes in an effort to defraud lending and financial institution out of millions of dollars. As with all of these types of schemes, the law eventually caught up with her, and she now faces criminal charges that could result in 105 years in prison and a fine of nearly $3 million.
On April 21, 2009, a federal grand jury returned an eighteen-count superseding indictment charging Thomas E. Parenteau, Dennis G. Sartain, and Bonnie Helt-Adams, all from Ohio, with tax fraud, bank and wire fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice.
Mr. Parenteau and Mr. Sartain were originally indicted in September 2008, for obstruction of justice, conspiracy and witness tampering and have been detained since their arrests at that time. The superseding indictment includes additional allegations and adds Ms. Helt-Adams as a co-defendant.
According to the superseding indictment, Mr. Parenteau operated and controlled a number of Columbus-area businesses that were owned in the name of his wife, including Advanced Precast Building Systems LLC, Parenteau Builders LLC, Your Home Source LLC, and MKP Investments LLC. Mr. Sartain had been Mr. Parenteau’s primary accountant since 2000. Ms. Helt-Adams is a licensed real estate agent who listed and sold many of Mr. Parenteau’s luxury homes and formally joined Your Home Source, LLC in 2005.
The superseding indictment alleges that Mr. Parenteau and Mr. Sartain prepared and filed four false income tax returns for Mr. Parenteau’s mistress that generated over $700,000 in fraudulent refunds, which went to Mr. Parenteau. The superseding indictment also charges Mr. Parenteau and Mr. Sartain with conspiracy to commit money laundering related to $18 million in fraudulently obtained loan proceeds secured against Mr. Parenteau’s home at 4500 Dublin Road (known as Loretta Estate), which was a 27,000 square foot residence that sits on 4.8 acres on the Scioto River in Dublin, Ohio.
In addition, the superseding indictment alleges that Mr. Parenteau and Ms. Helt-Adams engaged in a scheme to defraud lending and financial institutions out of millions of dollars by falsely inflating the purchase price of the homes Mr. Parenteau built and sold in exchange for paying large undisclosed or disguised kickbacks to the buyers after their purchases.
Finally, the superseding indictment alleges that, after learning of the IRS investigation into the tax, bank fraud and money laundering schemes, Mr. Parenteau, Ms. Helt-Adams and Mr. Sartain engaged in a scheme to obstruct justice by concealing computers, creating false documents, destroying or altering evidence, tampering with a witness, lying to federal and local investigators and otherwise obstructing justice.
An indictment is merely a formal charge by the grand jury. Each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. If convicted, Mr. Parenteau faces a maximum sentence of 150 years in prison and a fine of over $4 million; Mr. Sartain faces a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison and a fine of over $1.5 million; Ms. Helt-Adams faces a maximum sentence of 105 years in prison and a fine of nearly $3 million.
I will try to follow this matter and provide an update when this case is wrapped up.
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