Oct
San Fernando Valley Realtor® Pleads Guilty in Ponzi Scheme
A San Fernando Valley Realtor® who conned investors out of at least $2.245 million in a phony condominium real estate investment fraud has pleaded guilty to her crimes.
Celia Gallardo, 42, of North Hills, entered a guilty plea for wire fraud in front of U.S. District Court Judge Dean D. Pregerson. Gallardo not only faces 20 years (I hope) in federal prison but must make restitution to her victims. This might be difficult, as instead of making the promised investments, she repaid earlier investors in her Ponzi scheme, took her friends and family on a Mediterranean cruise, paid her mortgage (how responsible) and of course withdrew a lot of cash for herself.
Her plea agreement required Celia Gallardo to fully allocute to her crimes, which included admitting that she lied to investors from September 2007 and for a year thereafter about earning them (suspiciously) high returns on her condo real estate investment program.
Gallardo’s real estate salesperson’s license is still active on the California Department of Real Estate website; I hope they revoke her license pronto.
Many thanks to the hard work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for getting this dirty agent off the streets.
An earlier posting about Celia Gallardo can be found by clicking on California Real Estate Fraud Report.
