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Guilty plea count up to 22 in DOJ bid-rigging probe into CA real estate auctions

By  |  April 26, 2012

California real estate investors Lydia Fong and Matthew Worthing have pleaded guilty to bid-rigging at public real estate foreclosure auctions in northern California. From October 2009 to January 2011, Fong and Worthing, along with co-conspirators, selected a winning bidder ahead of time and agreed not to compete with each other. The result was to obtain real estate in San Mateo and San Francisco at non-competitive prices. Fong and Worthing mark the 21st and 22nd individuals who have pleaded guilty to fraud related to public real estate foreclosure auctions in northern California. The DOJ’s investigation is ongoing.

Full content: DOJ Press Release

 

Related content: Design and Implementation of Screens and Their Use by Defendants  (Rosa Abrantes-Metz, Global Economics Group, NYU Stern School of Business)

 

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