David Tipton, 52, Alexandria, Virginia, was sentenced today to a year and a day in prison for defrauding lenders who provided him with nearly $710,000 towards the purchase and renovation of a residential property in Northeast Washington.
According to the government’s evidence, Tipton owned a company that was created to purchase, renovate, and sell residential real estate in the District of Columbia and Virginia. He signed a contract in January 2013 to purchase a property in the 500 block of 14th Street NE, Washington, DC for $450,000 in cash, planning to renovate and sell the property for a profit. He falsely represented that he had the required funds available to close the cash transaction and created a false bank statement to back up the claim. In fact, almost all of the money for the purchase was coming from two unrelated private individuals whom he had met at a real estate investment seminar. Each of them provided Tipton with $224,497, for a total of $448,994, in return for Deeds of Trust securing their interest in the property. Tipton did not tell the settlement company about the loans. As a result, the Deeds of Trust were not recorded.
Additionally, Tipton later obtained $260,000 from a private money lender to renovate the property. Tipton did not disclose to the lender that two other individuals held Deeds of Trust in the property.
Tipton pled guilty in May 2018, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to a charge of mail fraud. He was sentenced by the Honorable Senior Judge Paul L. Friedman. Following his prison term, he will be placed on three years of supervised release. He also must pay $448,994 in restitution, as well as an identical amount in a forfeiture money judgment.
The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Nancy McNamara, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Assistant Director in Charge McNamara commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office. They also expressed appreciation for the work of those who handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including former Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. Marston, former Criminal Investigator Juan Juarez, Paralegal Specialist Aisha Keys, and former Paralegal Specialist Kristy Penny. Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Saler, who investigated and prosecuted the case.
