Samoa Deports Fugitive Wanted in United States in Real Estate Mortgage Fraud Scam

A former Los Angeles-based real estate developer charged with running a $50 million mortgage fraud scheme arrived in the United States to face federal criminal charges. Charles Elliott Fitzgerald was arrested and deported by authorities in the Independent State of Samoa, a Pacific island nation where he fled to in June 2003 after he was sued by a mortgage lender he allegedly defrauded.

Samoan law enforcement officials, responding to a request from the United States, arrested the 46-year-old Fitzgerald in the Samoan capital of Apia on December 11. Fitzgerald was deported by Samoa because his United States passport had been revoked after the criminal charges were filed, which in turn subjected him to immediate deportation under Samoan law. Federal authorities in the United States expressed great appreciation for the cooperation of the Government of Samoa and its law enforcement authorities.

Fitzgerald is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and loan fraud, four counts of bank fraud, one count of loan fraud, five counts of money laundering and one count of obstruction of justice.

Fitzgerald and the others were allegedly involved in a wide-ranging and sophisticated conspiracy to defraud federally insured mortgage lenders out of tens of millions of dollars. As part of the scam, the co-conspirators obtained inflated mortgage loans on expensive homes in some of California's most exclusive neighborhoods, including Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Holmby Hills, Malibu, Carmel, Mill Valley, Pebble Beach and La Jolla. According to the recently unsealed charges, the conspiracy was spearheaded by Fitzgerald and Abrams.

If he is convicted of the 12 counts in the criminal complaint, Fitzgerald faces a maximum possible sentence of 265 years in federal prison.