Another Investor Falls In Ongoing Mobile Federal Probe Into Foreclosure Sale Bid Rigging

From the U.S. Department of Justice:

• A Mobile, Ala., real estate investor has agreed to plead guilty [] for his role in a conspiracy to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in southern Alabama, the Department of Justice announced.



• Charges were filed [] in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama in Mobile against Bobby Threlkeld Jr. Threlkeld was charged with one count of bid rigging to obtain selected real estate at foreclosure auctions and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud.



• The department said that Threlkeld participated in a conspiracy to rig bids by agreeing to refrain from bidding against other investors at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Mobile County and its surrounding areas.



• The department said that the primary purpose of the conspiracy was to suppress and restrain competition and to make and receive payoffs in order to obtain selected real estate offered at public foreclosure auctions at noncompetitive prices. When real estate properties are sold at these auctions, the proceeds are used to pay off the mortgage and other debt attached to the property, with remaining proceeds, if any, paid to the homeowner.

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• [These] charges are the latest filed by the department in its ongoing investigation into bid rigging and fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in southern Alabama. In addition to [these] charges, on Sept. 15, 2011, Allen K. French, Harold H. Buchman and Buchman’s company, M & B Builders LLC, were each charged in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama with one count of bid rigging to obtain selected real estate in southern Alabama at foreclosure auctions.



• On the same day, M & B Builders was also charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. On Oct. 14, 2011, French, Buchman and M & B Builders pleaded guilty to the charges.



• The Antitrust Division and the FBI have identified a pattern of collusive schemes among real estate investors aimed at eliminating competition at real estate foreclosure auctions, and today’s charges are part of the department’s ongoing effort to combat this conduct and restore competition to public auctions.(1)

For the U.S. Justice Department press release, see Alabama Real Estate Investor Agrees to Plead Guilty to Conspiracy to Rig Bids for the Purchase of Real Estate at Public Foreclosure Auctions.

(1) The investigation into fraud and bid rigging at certain real estate foreclosure auctions in Southern Alabama is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s Atlanta Field Office and the FBI’s Mobile Field Office, with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama. Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or fraud related to public real estate foreclosure auctions should contact the Antitrust Division’s Atlanta Field Office at 404-331-7100 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm.