Michael Cox and Gonzalo DeRamon, co-founders of the Biscayne Housing Group, and Michael Runyan, president of the BJ&K Construction, have all pleaded guilty last Monday to: one count of conspiracy charge, two counts of conspiracy charges, and one count of conspiracy charge, respectively, according to prosecutors.
The three, together with Greer and Carlisle co-founder Lloyd Boggio, and former Carlisle Development Group CEO Matthew Greer, were charged earlier this month with conspiring to defraud the United States government and stealing millions of dollars through a low-income housing scheme. They are scheduled for plea hearings this week, according to court documents.
According to the Miami Herald, when the charges were announced on Aug. 4, the U.S. Attorney's Office had already recovered about $10.8 million of the misbegotten funds.
According to Jay Weaver of the Miami Herald, the federal investigation into Carlisle started in late 2011 when two senior executives from the company quit and went to the U.S. attorney's office with their allegations of fraud. They assisted the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, and the U.S. attorney's office in the investigation and were not charged.
The federal government grants funds to developers to give incentive for the construction of low-income housing. The three real estate giants took advantage of these funds and put the allocated incentive to their private development plans.
According to BizJournal, the complexes in question include the Miami-Dade County Brownsville Transit Village II, III and IV; the Everett Stewart Senior Village; Metro; Ponciana Grove; Wahneta Palms; Villa Patricia III; Labre Place; Village Carver II; Bonita Cove; Notre Dame; Casa Matias; and Georgia Ayers.
"Motivated by personal greed, the defendants are charged with stealing tens of millions of dollars of federal funds intended for the construction of housing for the poor, the homeless, and the elderly of South Florida," U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer said when he announced the charges. "Our office will vigorously pursue those who line their pockets with federal resources that are intended to benefit vulnerable individuals and families," Ferrer added.
