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Couple Sentenced in Property Fraud Scheme
By admin | February 1, 2008
Couple Sentenced in Property Fraud Scheme | TheLedger.com
Couple Sentenced in Property Fraud Scheme
Thomas and Dawn Salvati took more than $1 million in fake housing deals.
By Shoshana Walter
THE LEDGER
Shoshana WalterShoshana Walter
Police Reporter
Dept.: Metro Desk
(863) 802-7590
shoshana.walter@theledger.com
A Lakeland man and his wife have been convicted of organized fraud and conspiracy to commit racketeering in a real estate scam that defrauded victims out of more than $1 million, the state Attorney General’s Office has announced.
Thomas Salvati, 49, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Dawn Salvati, 39, was sentenced to three years.
While in Florida prison serving a previous sentence for organized fraud, Thomas Salvati worked through his wife to form a corporation called Inves4us through which the couple offered pre-foreclosure properties they did not own. They created fake purchase contracts for their victims to sign and then collected deposits totaling more than $1 million from potential buyers, according to a news release from the Attorney General’s Office.
The Web site for the Florida Department of State Division of Corporations lists the couple’s home at 8155 Shadywood Court in North Lakeland as the company’s address, and Dawn Salvati as the primary agent. The company was registered with the department in 2005 and has been inactive since September 2006, according to Web site records.
The two were first arrested in the Inves4us scam in July 2006 after an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It was not Thomas Salvati’s first arrest for organized fraud. He served three years in prison for organized fraud in St. Lucie County in 1999.
Topics: Real Estate Fraud |