Baltimore Real Estate Consultant Sentenced for Mortgage Fraud

Baltimore, Maryland – Two men have been sentenced to over two years in prison for their roles in mortgage fraud schemes in Baltimore. Alexander Sivels II, a 32-year-old real estate consultant, and Christopher A. Kwegan, a 59-year-old real estate agent, were sentenced to 27 months in prison each, followed by three years of supervised release.

Sivels was ordered to pay restitution of $1,317,314.35, while Kwegan was ordered to pay restitution of $530,641.27. Kwegan was sentenced on Thursday, while Sivels was sentenced on Wednesday.

Sivels previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud involving the fraudulent purchase of at least nine properties in Baltimore using fraudulent loan documentation and settlement documents. The schemes resulted in actual or attempted losses of more than $1.3 million. Kwegan participated in the sale of two properties with losses of more than $530,000.

The sentences were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Special Agent in Charge Bertrand Nelson of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General; and Special Agent in Charge Brian Murphy of the United States Secret Service – Baltimore Field Office.

“Mortgage fraud perpetrators steal by inducing lenders to make loans that will never be repaid, and they harm neighborhoods when the inevitable foreclosures drive down property values,” stated U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.

Sivels owned Royal Real Estate Consultants LLC, and co-conspirator Cecil Chester worked as an accountant from an office located on New Hampshire Avenue in Hyattsville, Maryland. Co-conspirator Andreas Tamaris purchased, renovated, and then resold distressed row houses in Baltimore City, primarily in Highlandtown. In 2007 or 2008, Sivels met Andreas Tamaris and agreed to assist Tamaris to find purchasers for houses he had bought and renovated, or that were owned by developers who owed money to Tamaris for renovation work.

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