A New Jersey man is facing charges after he allegedly kept down payments from clients.
According to a press release from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, Peter Live, 41, of Newark, was arrested last week after an investigation by the Fort Lee Police and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Financial Crimes Unit.
Live owned Live Realty, a Fort Lee-based realty company owned by Live. Five of his clients made complaints with the Fort Lee Police between Dec. 2016 and June 2017, claiming that they made down payments for real estate purchases to Live. Instead of holding the money in escrow, Live allegedly kept the money and never completed the real estate transactions.
According to authorities, Live deposited the money into several bank accounts he controlled and would alter withdraw the money for his own use.
Live is facing charges of failure of make lawful disposition of property received; theft by deception; misconduct by a corporate official — all involving more than $75,000.
The former real estate agent has been issued a complaint summons and released.
According to the press release, Live is scheduled to appear at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 18 in Bergen County Central Judicial Processing Court.
A former real estate agent is heading to prison after accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from home buyers in Pennsylvania for properties he wasn’t authorized to sell.
In an unrelated case, Ignacio Beato is heading to prison after accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from home buyers in Pennsylvania for properties he wasn’t authorized to sell.
The Associated Press reported that Beato pleaded guilty in May to a felony count of wire fraud conspiracy.
According to prosecutors, Beato and his co-conspirators accepted more than $750,000 from people interested in buying homes.
Authorities stated that he never had the deeds on the Hazleton properties.
According to court records, many buyers didn’t find out about the false sales until they moved into the homes and the true property owners told them they could not live there.
According to The Standard-Speaker, a judge last week ordered Beato to serve four years and three months in prison and repay $65,000 in restitution.
His real estate license has been revoked.
