Danli Liu, Bid Rigging, California 2024

Fremont Real Estate Investor Pleads Guilty to Bid Rigging

A Northern California real estate investor, Danli Liu of Fremont, Calif., has agreed to plead guilty for her role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California, the government announced.

Felony charges were filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland against Danli Liu.

To date, as a result of the ongoing antitrust investigation into bid rigging and fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California, 25 individuals, including Liu, have agreed to plead or have pleaded guilty.

According to court documents, Liu conspired with others not to bid against one another, but instead to designate a winning bidder to obtain selected properties at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Alameda County, Calif.

Liu was also charged with a conspiracy to use the mail to carry out a scheme to fraudulently acquire title to selected properties sold at public auctions, to make and receive payoffs, and to divert money to co-conspirators that would have gone to mortgage holders and others by holding second, private auctions open only to members of the conspiracy.

The selected properties were then awarded to the conspirators who submitted the highest bids in the second, private auctions, which often took place at or near the courthouse steps where the public auctions were held.

The government said Liu conspired with others to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Alameda County beginning as early as April 2009 and continuing until about March 2010.

“Liu and her fellow conspirators secretly conspired to purchase foreclosed real estate at suppressed prices, thereby restraining competition at these foreclosure auctions in Northern California,” said Scott D. Hammond, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program.

The primary purpose of the conspiracies was to suppress and restrain competition and to conceal payoffs in order to obtain selected real estate offered at Alameda County public foreclosure auctions at non-competitive prices.

When real estate properties are sold at these auctions, the proceeds are used to pay off the mortgage and other debt attached to the property, with remaining proceeds, if any, paid to the homeowner.

A violation of the Sherman Act carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for individuals. The maximum fine for the Sherman Act charges may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victim if either amount is greater than $1 million. A count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The government can also seek to forfeit the proceeds earned from participating in the conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

Danli Liu, a real estate investor from Fremont, Calif., has agreed to plead guilty to bid rigging at public foreclosure auctions in Northern California. The charges against Liu were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland. Liu was charged with conspiracy to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Alameda County, Calif. The government said Liu conspired with others to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Alameda County beginning as early as April 2009 and continuing until about March 2010. Liu faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/northern-california-real-estate-investor-agrees-plead-guilty-bid-rigging-public-foreclosure