US: California real estate investor pleads guilty to bid rigging

As a January 2018 trial date looms for five real estate investors who were indicted in 2014 for conspiring to rig bids at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California, one of the defendants has now pleaded guilty.

The Department of Justice announced that Joseph J. Giraudo pleaded guilty to two counts of bid rigging. According to court documents, Grinsell participated in conspiracies to rig bids by agreeing to refrain from bidding against other co-conspirators at public real estate foreclosure auctions in San Mateo and San Francisco counties. The conspiracies began as early as August 2008 and continued until January 2011.

The primary purpose of the conspiracies was to suppress competition in order to obtain selected properties offered at San Mateo County and San Francisco County public foreclosure auctions at noncompetitive prices.

According to the Justice Department, a total of 62 individuals have agreed to plead or have pleaded guilty as a result of the government’s probe of real estate foreclosure auctions in northern California. The defendants in this case are among the last remaining targets of the probe awaiting trial. With additional hearings scheduled in the case next month, a trial in this matter would likely be avoided, and the Justice Department’s antitrust investigation into real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California could fast be coming to a close.

Full Content: Department of Justice

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