A Mexican couple has admitted to fraudulently selling Southern California homes they did not own and laundering approximately $1 million in proceeds.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, Victor Hugo Villalobos Almazan and his wife, Nayeli Noemi Montoya Rodriguez, Mexican nationals who entered the U.S. on tourist visas, pleaded guilty to bank fraud charges.
“According to the plea agreement, conspirators posed as legitimate property owners and used fraudulent documents to sell real estate they did not own to unsuspecting buyers.
To carry out the scheme, co-conspirators created email addresses closely resembling those of the true owners to market the properties entirely through email, avoiding any in-person meetings and concealing their identities.
They then provided forged property transfer documents that falsely appeared to bear the actual owner’s signature.”
Villalobos and Montoya admitted to opening bank accounts under business names similar to the legitimate owners’ to receive the illicit funds before wiring them overseas.
They targeted two homes in San Diego, pocketing $400,748 and $561,463 respectively.
Montoya wired nearly all proceeds from the first sale to Mexico in April 2023, while Villalobos moved the second batch to accounts in Mexico and Jordan or took it in cash.
The defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on September 4, 2026, before U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw.
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