A former executive with a now-defunct New Jersey-based real estate investment firm was indicted for his role in an investment fraud scheme and for misappropriating approximately $2.3 million from investors.
Ivel Turner, who was vice president of project management for National Realty Investment Advisors (NRIA), was indicted by a federal grand jury with eight counts of wire fraud and one count of securities fraud. According to the charges brought against him, NRIA – which claimed to be a real estate investment management fund with over $1.25 billion in assets under management – promised investors guaranteed returns of at least 12% per year for a period of five years, a full return of their investments, and monthly distributions of between 6% and 10% of their original investments.
Turner had access to NRIA’s private placement memorandum (PPM), which made many such representations pertaining to NRIA’s purported returns on investment and distributions. In April 2020, Turner incorporated Oasis Realty Investment Group (ORIG) while still employed at NRIA. Turner used ORIG to solicit real estate investors to purchase, finance, and co-develop residential units in several states including Delaware and Pennsylvania.
To induce investors to invest and continue to invest in ORIG, Turner made material misrepresentations and omissions related to his role with ORIG and that company’s ORIG’s financial position and investing strategy. Turner also falsely represented to the victim investors that substantially all of ORIG’s proceeds would be used for real estate investment purposes. Instead, Turner spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of investor money on personal expenses, including luxury retail purchases, several vehicles, international travel, and a down payment on his residence.
The wire fraud charges against Turner each carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, while the securities fraud charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of up to $5 million. Turner was released on a $100,000 unsecured appearance bond and other conditions and is scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 4.