CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A judge on Thursday sentenced a Skokie businessman to 11 years in federal prison for teaming with an attorney and two others to sell millions of dollars in phony mortgages.
A jury in 2018 convicted Albert Rossini, the 73-year-old owner of Devon Street Investments in Lincolnwood, on multiple counts of mail fraud and wire fraud.
Rossini was found guilty of plotting with father-and-son co-defendants Babajan Khoshabe, of Chicago, and Anthony Khoshabe, of Skokie, to fraudulently induce more than a dozen victims into purchasing purported mortgage notes on apartment buildings in or near foreclosure, according to a press release.
The men promised that investors would receive title to the properties at the end of the foreclosure process but the defendants did not own the mortgage notes. Instead, the victims’ funds were misappropriated and used to make Ponzi-type payments to some of the investors, the release stated.
The victims provided a total of more than $7 million in investment money to the defendants, and Rossini fraudulently pocketed more than $2.5 million of it.
A separate federal jury in 2019 convicted the Khoshabes for their roles in the scheme. They are awaiting sentencing.
A fourth defendant, Chicago attorney Thomas Murphy, claimed to validate the sale of the mortgage notes through a phony “Guaranty Agreement” that he prepared and gave to Rossini to present to the victims, the release stated. Murphy pleaded guilty and admitted his role in the scheme. He also is awaiting sentencing.
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