He duped Orthodox Jews out of $3.5 million in 7 years. That’s the time he’ll do in prison.
For seven years, Shayeh Dov ran a scheme involving mortgage notes to defraud members of the Orthodox Jewish Community out of a total of $3.5 million, records show.
On Tuesday, the 49-year-old was sentenced to just over seven years in federal prison. He will also have to pay about $3 million in restitution to his victims and will serve three years’ probation.
The North Miami Beach man pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in February, records show.
According to the Miami U.S. Attorney’s Office, Dov “targeted members of the Orthodox Jewish community in South Florida and New York” from May 2012 to May 2019.
“Dov exploited the community’s close bonds of trust to obtain money for fraudulent investments,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Records show that Dov would offer investment opportunities in the form of distressed or foreclosed mortgage notes for properties in Broward, Miami-Dade, other Florida counties and other states.
“Dov would oftentimes engage investors in a legitimate transaction(s) and then conduct a fraudulent transaction,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The mortgage notes Dov sold were discounted because he said they were attached to delinquent and foreclosed real estate, records show. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the problem was Dov was selling notes for property that was not actually for sale.
“Dov also would purport to sell notes that he previously sold to other purchasers years ago that were not available for sale,” the office said in the news release. “In at least one instance, Dov sold the same note to two different investors approximately five days apart.”
Records show Dov had the money wired to his bank accounts and used it for his personal expenses including travel, gambling and mortgage payments.
This story was originally published August 6, 2019 at 8:44 PM.
