A Central Valley man has pleaded guilty to taking part in a nearly $10 million real estate fraud scam coordinated by a federal inmate already doing time in another fraud case.
Gilberto Barron, 26, a former Delano and Las Vegas resident, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and aggravated identity theft. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, Barron and others planned the scam in 2021 and 2022 with federal offender Seth Depiano, 44, formerly of Clovis.
Depiano was serving a 12-year sentence for a previous multimillion-dollar fraud at the time. Depiano, with the assistance of Barron and others, helped create bogus identities for alleged real estate brokers and shell corporations with names that resembled true real estate companies.
They then used the forged identities and shell corporations to market a variety of properties online that were not for sale to prospective buyers in California’s Central Valley and elsewhere at reduced prices. This included properties in which the actual owners had deceased.
Barron and others would meet with the buyers under false names and complete the transactions. They even went so far as to provide the buyers with forged deeds, title reports, and other real estate documents to support the transactions.
After collecting the money from potential buyers, Depiano, Barron, and others would launder it mostly through Las Vegas casinos. For example, Barron and others would go to casinos, deposit big sums of money into gaming machines, and then cash out with little to no gaming activity.
They did this to conceal the fact that the money was derived from their fraudulent operation. They would then utilise the funds to buy properties for their personal use.
Barron is due to be sentenced on September 28 by United States District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston. Barron faces a maximum statutory punishment of 20 years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering, as well as a mandatory minimum sentence of two years consecutive for aggravated identity theft.
Zahria Barber, 28, of Las Vegas, was sentenced to one year in prison for her role in the fraud. She helped launder money at casinos in exchange for payments towards some of her living expenses and college loans.
Depiano was sentenced in January to nine years in federal prison. This term is in addition to the 12 years he was previously serving, totalling 21 years in jail.
The IRS Criminal Investigation and Bakersfield Police Department conducted the investigation, with support from the FBI and the Nevada Attorney General’s Office.
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