FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AT DECEMBER 4, 2007 (202) 514-2007 WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888   Local Man Sentenced to Almost Six Years in Prison for Fraud Scheme in Which He Obtained Money by Selling D.C. Homes He Did Not Own

Washington, D.C. - A local man, George A. Cowser, has been sentenced to nearly six years in prison for engaging in a fraud scheme in which he obtained money by selling or offering to sell homes he did not own in the District of Columbia, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor, Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office, and Guy J. Cottrell, Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Washington Division, announced today.

Cowser, 60, of the 1700 block of Gales Street, NE, Washington, D.C., entered a guilty plea to an indictment in September 2007 before the Honorable Judge James Robertson in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. During the previous plea hearing, Cowser admitted that the government had sufficient evidence to convict him of the fraud scheme. He also acknowledged that the government could prove that the intended loss to victims from the scheme was over $1,000,000. Cowser was sentenced by Judge Robertson to 71 months in prison on the mail fraud counts, and 12 months in prison on each of the D.C. First Degree Fraud counts, to be served concurrently with each other. The Court ordered Cowser to pay $559,183.79 in criminal forfeiture and $29,394.84 in restitution to his victims. Following his incarceration, Cowser was ordered to serve three years of supervised release, during which time he cannot buy, sell or list any property, or open any credit lines or engage in any financial transactions over $5,000 without permission of the U.S. Probation Office.

According to the indictment, between May of 2005 and March of 2006, Cowser devised a scheme to defraud owners of property, individual buyers, and a mortgage company, among others, and obtain money and property from these owners, buyers and the mortgage company by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises. The purpose of this scheme was for Cowser to sell or attempt to sell real estate property in the District of Columbia that he claimed to own personally, or in the name of a company he formed, Reverse Properties, Inc. Neither Cowser nor Reverse owned these properties, had an independent claim of ownership to these properties, or had any contract to sell these properties for the true owners. Even though Cowser knew he did not own these properties, he signed sales contracts, and closed on the transfer of D.C. real estate properties for significant personal profit at the expense of the true owners, defrauded buyers, and financial institutions.

As part of the scheme, Cowser profited, and caused real estate property to be transferred to him or Reverse. Specifically, Cowser used a forged deed to claim ownership of a home in the 1300 block of West Virginia Avenue, NE. He attempted to sell the property to three separate individuals, obtaining money from all three, and actually engaging in two separate closings on a sale to two separate persons in the same week in February of 2006. As a result of these two closings, over $540,000 was given to Cowser or a corporate designee of Cowser. Cowser used some of these proceeds to purchase a 2006 Mitsubishi Outlander XL.

Cowser also attempted to fraudulently sell at least two other houses to buyers, one in the 1200 block of Orren Street, NE, and the other in the 1300 block of W Street, SE. He did so by signing fraudulent quit claim deeds and recording the quit claim deeds with the D.C. Recorder of Deeds. He then obtained money from the purported buyers, unbeknownst to the true owners. The sales did not successfully close, however, because the fraud regarding the West Virginia Avenue property, discussed above, became known. Nevertheless, the purported buyers were not able to recover all of their money that they had given to Cowser and the owner of one of the properties had her personal property damaged, including antique furniture, when it was moved out of her house without her knowledge during the attempted sale.

As part of his scheme, Cowser fraudulently claimed to many potential buyers that he owned dozens of properties throughout the District of Columbia, even though, in truth, he did not own any real property in the District of Columbia and he was not a registered real estate agent. During its investigation, the government also discovered that prior to his arrest, Cowser had executed at least 14 forged quit claim deeds to various other properties in the District of Columbia; each of these forged deeds that contained the false signature of the true owner of the property. Although Cowser did not record these deeds, he did use these forged deeds to defraud other investors out of money.

Moreover, Cowser was on release to the community pending trial with a condition of not engaging in similar fraudulent sales of real estate. Shortly before his trial, however, Judge Robertson ordered Cowser taken into custody based on Cowser's allegedly engaging in such sales while on release.

In announcing today's sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor, Assistant Director in Charge Persichini and Inspector in Charge Cottrell praised the hard work of the investigative agents involved in this matter, especially FBI Special Agent Mary Soudrette and Postal Inspector Jeremy Wiesel. They also acknowledged the efforts of Legal Assistant Teesha Tobias, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tejpal Chawla and Daniel Butler, who prosecuted this matter, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Lucas, who handled the forfeiture action against the proceeds obtained by Cowser.