Aron Noam Puretz, 53, and his son Chaim “Eli” Puretz, 29, are residents of Lakewood Township, New Jersey, United States. They owned Troy Technology Park, a commercial property in Troy, Oakland County, Michigan, USA.
Lakewood Township is around 661.6 miles away from Troy. Incorporated in 1955, the latter was named after Troy, Rensselaer County, New York, USA.
Aron is a former employee of the real estate investment and advisory firm Apex Equity Group. He was one of the owners of the multifamily properties Maple Lawn in Eureka, Illinois, USA and Big Country Chateau in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
Between 2016 and 2022, Aron allegedly conspired with others to deceive lenders into issuing multifamily and commercial mortgage loans by providing the lenders with fake financial statements, purchase contracts with inflated purchase prices and other fraudulent documents. When Maple Lawn was acquired for $4.1 million in February 2017, the conspirators used the identity of a co-conspirator to present a lender and Freddie Mac with a purchase and sale contract for $5.8 million and other fraudulent documents.
On February 17, 2017, a title and settlement company based in Lakewood Township performed two closings. One was for the true $4.1 million sales price and the other one for the fraudulent $5.8 million sales price presented to the lender.
When Aron and his co-conspirators acquired Big Country Chateau in July 2019, he used the identity of an associate instead of his own because he knew the lender and Freddie Mac would not approve him as an owner. He also hid his ownership and involvement with the property management company from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and other federal and state agencies.
In September 2020, Aron and Eli purchased Troy Technology Park for around $42 million and either sold or flipped the property to a co-conspirator for around $70 million. They provided the lender with falsified documents that included the inflated purchase price and the lender funded a loan for $45 million.
To conceal the fraudulent nature of the transaction, Aron, Eli and their co-conspirators arranged for a short-term $30 million loan. They used the loan to make it appear that they had the funds needed to close on the sale.
On June 17, 2024, Aron pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution. He was sentenced to 60 months in prison and ordered to pay $22,235,457 in restitution.
On August 1, 2024, Eli also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution. He was sentenced to 24 months in prison and ordered to pay $20,315,457 in restitution.
CONAN Daily 