A 46-year-old Orlando man will be imprisoned for more than nine years for defrauding a victim out of $12.7 million in fake real estate transactions over the course of several years.
Keith Ingersoll was sentenced to nine years and one month in federal prison this week for wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, attempted wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Ingersoll also must forfeit $9,814,993 in proceeds traceable to the offense and must pay $12.748 million in restitution. Ingersoll pled guilty on October 18, 2022.
According to court records, Ingersoll and his co-conspirators fraudulently obtained $12.7 million from a victim between 2016 and 2021. The individuals falsely represented that the funds provided by the victim would be used as refundable deposits for specific real estate transactions.
They also convinced the victim that the funds would be held in escrow by an attorney and that they would be returned to the victim upon request.
Instead, the funds were distributed to conspirators, who used them for their own personal benefit and purchased things like luxury car rentals, travel, and adult entertainment. The majority of the funds were transferred to Ingersoll.
Ingersoll and his conspirators provided the victim with fake real estate purchase contracts and other fake documents not executed by the owners of the properties. The documents contained forged signatures, fictitious names, and false representations.
When the victim requested a return of some of the funds, Ingersoll lied about why the funds could not be returned, falsely claiming that the fake escrow agent was in Costa Rica and was not allowed to leave the country due to having COVID-19.
Ingersoll, who worked under former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg, also conspired to defraud the Seminole County government out of $262,000 through the straw purchase and markup of a piece of real estate in 2017. Court records show that Ingersoll used his position as a consultant for Seminole County to find a straw purchaser to buy a piece of real estate. On the same day that the straw purchaser bought the property, Ingersoll caused the property to be transferred to the county for an extra $262,000 above the purchase price. The $262,000 windfall was then divided amongst Ingersoll, the straw purchaser, and other conspirators.
In another separate scheme, Ingersoll submitted fraudulent applications to the U.S. Small Business Administration for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan totaling $66,500 in emergency COVID-19 funding for his business, The Ingersoll Group. In the application, Ingersoll made false representations regarding the business’s revenues and costs to increase the amount of the loan. That loan application was denied.