Chapter 35
Helen watched his expression shift. His dark eyebrows furrowed and his lips thinned. “They are scamming people by selling the property.” Raj shook his head slightly. “They never claimed to own the property. From what I read in their prospectus, they are acting as agents for the property owners. They say that they are merely acting as the representatives for the owners.”
Helen was shaking her head even before he finished. “They aren’t agents. They aren’t anything to the owners of the property. I went to one of the local libraries to use their computer so there wouldn’t be any trace of my search.”
“Why did you do that? The computers here are secure.”
Helen looked over at the guards, both of whom nodded. When she looked back at Raj, she shrugged. “I guess you mentioned that but…well, I was just trying to hide my trail.” She pulled out of his arms and dropped her tote bag into a chair, then started pacing. That’s when she noticed Angela sleeping and glanced at her watch, cringing when she realized how long she’d been gone.
Still, she lowered her voice so she wouldn’t wake their daughter. “What I discovered is that the owners live in Canada. When I contacted them, they hadn’t even remembered that they owned the property.” She put a finger to her lips, tapping the corner absently. “It took me a while to even learn who owned the site. But what I also found out is that Paul and Nathan have ‘sold’ this property five times over the past two years to various clients.”
Raj’s dark eyebrows scowled at this news. “How is that possible? A deal like they were proposing takes several months to put together. Even I would slow roll a deal like this. According to the proposal, the owners were asking for twenty million for the property. But I would have required the purchase of the surrounding land as well. There’s no way I would buy up a tiny parcel of land with the idea of building on it. Without the surrounding land also being developed, there would be no commercial value. I wouldn’t build a large structure on a piece of land that is surrounded by abandoned warehouses….” He stopped at the sparkle in Helen’s eyes. “What do you know?”
She pressed her hands together and stepped closer. “That’s exactly what Paul and Nathan propose. I was able to find two of the previous ‘buyers’. Paul and Nathan suggest a massive gentrification project and showed potential clients that one spot. We just happened to come in on the wrong side. You mentioned the issue at that point. If we had driven in from the opposite side, we wouldn’t have seen as much destruction. And the streets coming in from the northern area look almost quaint. The buildings on the north side are unique. The buildings on the western side are abandoned and more of a hazard, the windows broken out and trash all over the place. But the buildings in the north side of the area aren’t anywhere near as bad as the ones that we saw as we drove in.”
“I’m still not following.”
She grinned. “It’s all a scam!” she explained. “Paul and Nathan found a property where the owner doesn’t even realize they own it. Then they pretend to have a fake client who wants to sell the property and get a real client who wants to buy the property. Paul and Nathan negotiate a sale, with the idea of developing the surrounding area as well. They promise massive, long term profits because the price of the land is so reduced.”
“But no one would buy up a property to develop without first ensuring that the land around it could also be developed. That’s my point.”
She nodded, but wasn’t finished. “What if the profits were so good, because the land didn’t need that much refurbishment? So, Paul tried to convince you to buy up the initial piece of land quickly because there was competition.”
Raj folded his arms, rubbing one hand over his chin as he contemplated the possibilities. “You might have a point. If I didn’t need to spend millions to renovate the building I’m buying, and there was the possibility later of acquiring the rest of the land, I might take the risk and buy the property immediately.”
“Exactly,” she said and poked him in the shoulder.
Raj grabbed her hand and pulled her closer. “You found out that this is what Nathan and Paul were doing?”
She nodded, excited. “I don’t have proof, but I contacted some of my colleagues at one of my previous firms. They mentioned hearing about two other buyers of that land who had immediately turned around and sold the land after the owners of the surrounding buildings wouldn’t sell. Or they’d sell, but at astronomical prices, making the whole deal collapse.”
Raj wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in closer. “That means that I would have bought the land, then turned around and sold it again. Giving Paul and Nathan another commission.”
“Nope,” she laughed. “There is a commission that they earn whenever they sell that property.”
There was a pause as he looked down at her, confused. “I’m still not following.”
Her smile brightened and she nearly bounced with her enthusiasm. “I didn’t understand either until I made a few more phone calls. The truth is that Paul and Nathan don’t actually sell the property. They’ve figured out how to fake a sale, pocket the money, generate fake documents and deed transactions, and…!”
“They pocket the money from the sale as well as their commission!” he finished for her.
“Exactly,” she said with another little bounce. “I don’t have all of the buyers’ information, but I know that they’ve pulled this scam several times, sometimes during the same time period, with different clients. They are pocketing the money over and over again. I have no idea how much they’ve earned so far, but I have enough information to go to the authorities.”
“Isn’t it going to be difficult to prove that Paul and Nathan stole the money?” he asked. “Won’t they have deposited the money into offshore accounts?”
She shrugged. “Probably. Since the property wasn’t ever actually sold, there’s no record of previous buyers in the county records. But if I contact each of the sellers and the new buyers, they’ll have records of the financial transactions as well as copies of the fake deed transfers. This is wire fraud, since all of the financial transfers were done electronically. This is also theft or, I think in the real estate industry, it’s called ‘illegal selling by affiliate’.” She shook her head slightly. “I don’t know, but I can bring all of my information to the authorities and they can figure it out.”
“That’s pretty heavy stuff,” Raj replied, giving her that charming smile. “I’m impressed that you were able to figure this out in less than three hours.”
“Oh, I don’t have all the details figured out. But when I was in the office today, I heard Paul and Nathan yelling about a scam. Several of the other employees heard it and I was able to talk to someone who pointed me in the right direction before she walked out the door.” Helen grinned. “I think by now, Paul and Nathan are wondering where their office staff have gone. The word was spreading fast and people were panicking.”
“Good! I’ll alert the authorities so that Paul and Nathan’s accounts are frozen.” He patted her on the butt and pulled away. “Give me a few minutes. I have no idea how long Angela should nap without interfering with her night time schedule, but she’s been out for about an hour.”
Helen watched as Raj disappeared into the next room. She heard the words, “Accounts” and “Fraud” before he closed the door.
Sighing with triumph, Helen walked over to the sofa and stared down at her little girl. The sight reminded her that she had one more problem in her life that she needed to figure out. Sitting down, she placed a hand on Angela’s shoulder. “What are we going to do?” she whispered.