Thursday, January 24, 2008

Scam Artist Pleads Guilty to $1.6M Real Estate Fraud

Carla Zimbalist, Beverly Hills, California, and Pam Chanla, also known as Sayasith Khammanivong, Alhambra, California, sole partners in CPM Holdings Inc., PMC Interests, Inc., and Scott Avenue Development, Inc., were indicted on charges of grand larceny and securities fraud for stealing money from twenty-three investors. Zimbalist and Chanla found these investors through Jennifer Wilkov, Brooklyn, Ney York, who at the time was a financial advisor at American Express Financial Advisors. Wilkov used her position to solicit her clients and others for this investment.  Wilkov has pleaded guilty to the charges.

All three defendants told investors that Zimbalist and Chanla would use their investments to purchase and renovate southern California residential properties. The defendants promised investors large profits after the properties were sold.  In fact, Zimbalist and Chanla never owned six of the nine advertised properties.  Although Zimbalist and Chanla did own two of the properties at some point, they fell into foreclosure after Zimbalist and Chanla failed to make payments on the loans they had used to purchase the properties. A brother of one of the defendants owned the ninth property. This individual sold the home at a profit, but no money was ever returned to any of the investors.

Zimbalist and Chanla used a large portion of the stolen investor money to pay for personal expenses and civil judgments that had been entered against them for similar thefts from California victims who had previously invested in different properties.  A criminal investigation into those activities is being conducted by Detective Simeon Plyler of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. 

Wilkov was a certified financial planner and a member of the Advanced Advisor Group at American Express Financial Advisors when she began soliciting her clients and others for these investments, which were not endorsed by American Express.  Wilkov received more than $140,000 from Zimbalist and Chanla in commissions and consulting fees for recruiting investors.  In August 2005, Wilkov left American Express to open her own Brooklyn-based company, Evolutionary Strategic Planning.  Wilkov is also the author of The Loved Ones Kit, Dating Your Money, and Dating Your Money for Couples. 

The Grand Jury charged Zimbalist, Chanla, and Wilkov with Scheme to defraud in the first degree, and multiple counts of securities fraud in violation of the New York General Business Law, Section 352-c (the Martin Act).  The Grand Jury also charged Zimbalist and Chanla with numerous counts of Grand Larceny in the Second and Third Degrees. Grand Larceny in the Second Degree is a class C felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Grand Larceny in the Third Degree is a class D felony punishable by up to 7 years in prison. Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree and securities fraud under the New York General Business Law, Section 352-c (the Martin Act) are class E felonies punishable by up to 4 years in prison. 

mortgage fraud