Real Estate Partners Charged with Defrauding Three Financial Institutions

[Nigel Allen]

Here is a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Real Estate Partners Charged with Defrauding Three Financial
Institutions
To: National and Business desks
Contact: Dean St. Dennis of the Department of Justice
202-514-2007

LOS ANGELES, May 3 -- The U.S. Department of Justice
said today that a 21-count indictment unsealed here April 30
charged Malcolm Kingston, Juri Ripinsky and Ashok Advani with
conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.
The indictment, returned in U.S. District Court, said Kingston,
Ripinsky and Advani, partners in a number of Los Angeles-based
real estate development companies collectively known as City
Center, fraudulently diverted in excess of $2 million from real
estate joint ventures that various City Center companies entered
into with Independence Bank, Encino, Calif. The indictment also
charged that the three defrauded Glendale Federal Savings and Loan
Association, Glendale, Calif., and The Bank of Nova Scotia, San
Francisco, by causing those institutions to lend in excess of
$27 million based on false and fraudulent documents.
Kingston, 54, of London, was the chairman of the board of
directors of the City Center companies, the government said, and
Ripinsky, 39, of New Milford, Conn., and Advani, 35, Beverly Hills,
Calif., were principals in various City Center companies.
The indictment said Kingston, Ripinsky and Advani received
illegitimate real estate commissions through sham brokerage
companies and other illicit arrangements relating to joint venture
real estate acquisitions with Independence Bank. The indictment
further charged that the defendants defrauded Glendale Federal
Savings and Loan Association and The Bank of Nova Scotia by
inducing those institutions to make loans on the basis of false and
fraudulent information. In addition, the indictment said the three
laundered proceeds through a series of accounts at various
financial institutions in the Los Angeles area.
If convicted on all counts on which he is charged, Kingston
could receive a sentence of approximately five years in prison and
fines and forfeiture totalling $2,576,000. Ripinsky faces a
possible sentence of approximately five years in prison and fines
and forfeiture totalling $3,926,600. Advani faces a possible
sentence of approximately five years in prison and fines and
forfeiture totalling $2,576,000.
The prosecution is being handled by attorneys from the Fraud
Section of the department's Criminal Division and the Los Angeles
Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the
assistance of the United States Attorney's Office for the Central
District of California.
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Nigel Allen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada ae...@freenet.carleton.ca