Feds Charge Woodbridge Man In Real Estate Fraud Schemes

Federal authorities arrested a Woodbridge resident Friday morning and charged him in connection with multiple criminal fraud schemes over the last five years.

John Voloshin, 55, of Penny Lane, Woodbridge, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joan G. Margolis in New Haven, who ordered him detained pending a detention hearing scheduled for Monday.

He is charged with mail fraud, wire fraud and making a false statement on a loan application.

Voloshin’s arrest was announced by U.S. Attorney for Connecticut David B. Fein and FBI Special Agent in Charge in New Haven Kimberly K. Mertz.

Court documents and statements in court allege that Voloshin defrauded multiple victims of more than $1 million in fake real estate schemes between 2006 and 2010.

Federal authorities said an individual loaned $500,000 to Voloshin, who said he needed the money to purchase a house on Martha’s Vineyard because there had been a delay in his financing and he might lose a large down payment.

Although he promised to repay the money within 30 days, he has yet to repay any of the money and investigators determined that he had not purchased any property on Martha’s Vineyard in 2006.

It is also alleged that in 2008, Voloshin received a $250,000 home equity loan from a Connecticut bank. In his application, Voloshin submitted a 2007 federal tax return prepared by an accounting firm showing his income was about $916,000.

As of August 2011, the outstanding balance on the loan was $252,000 and no payments had been made since March 2011. Investigators determined that no members of the accounting firm had prepared the tax return for Voloshin.

It is further alleged that in 2010, Voloshin defrauded an individual who paid him $250,000 to bid on the purchase of the bank auction of a hotel on Nantucket Island. The auction company told the victim it had never received his check.

Instead, federal authorities said, Voloshin deposited the check in an account opened under a name similar to the auction company’s name. Bank records indicate that large wire transfers from the account were made to an entity controlled by Voloshin and also to Voloshin’s family members.

In June 2010, authorities said, Voloshin applied for and received a $520,000 refinancing loan from a mortgage lender for property he has owned on Martha’s Vineyard since 1999.

Included with his application was a financial account statement showing an account balance exceeding $3 million. The account statement was fraudulent, however, and Voloshin failed to disclose more than $1.2 million in outstanding liens against the Martha’s Vineyard property.

It is alleged that Voloshin used $250,000 of the refinance loan to pay the victim of the hotel auction fraud scheme.

Fein and Mertz said the investigation is ongoing and asked that individuals with information that might be helpful to the investigation to contact the FBI at 203-777-6311.

The case was investigated by the FBI in coordination with the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David T. Huang and Michael S. McGarry.