Norman Montalvo, Bid Rigging, California 2023

A Northern California real estate investor has agreed to plead guilty to his role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California.

Norman Montalvo, of Concord, California, is the 26th individual to plead guilty or agree to plead guilty as a result of the Antitrust Division’s ongoing antitrust investigation into bid rigging and fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California.

According to court documents, Montalvo 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 San Francisco and San Mateo counties, California.

Montalvo 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 to co-conspirators money that would have otherwise gone to mortgage holders and others.

The conspiracies, which began as early as June 2008 and continued until about September 2010, were aimed at suppressing and restraining competition and concealing payoffs in order to obtain selected real estate offered at San Francisco and San Mateo County public foreclosure auctions at non-competitive prices.

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.

Montalvo is set to plead guilty to a four-count felony charge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco.

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