George O’Neal, 70, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, who operated from an office space in Annapolis, Maryland, was indicted on October 19, 2010, and pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection to three fraud schemes.
According to O’Neal‘s plea agreement, from 2004 to 2006, O’Neal placed ads in newspapers soliciting investors in Baltimore row houses. From 2005 to 2006, O’Neal also solicited investors to buy real estate properties for condominium conversions in Atlanta, Georgia. In both schemes, O’Neal misrepresented to investors, among other things, that he had 30 years experience in real estate sales when in fact he had previously been convicted of federal offenses regarding his real estate dealings; and falsely stated that their investment money would be used to purchase, renovate and sell or lease the properties, when in fact O’Neal knew money would be used for unrelated purposes. In 2008, O’Neal, while working for an Atlanta roofing company, falsely told customers that his employer was going out of business. O’Neal arranged for the customers to make up front payments to himself and a company he created for the roofing work. In one to two months, O’Neal collected approximately $75,000 from individual homeowners for whom he failed to provide the promised roofing work, except for one homeowner who received a severely deficient roof. Losses from the three schemes total over $1 million in losses to victims. O’Neal is scheduled to be sentenced on March 25, 2011.
