The Edmond Sun

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July 29, 2010

Defendants plead not guilty in real estate scheme

Case involves 2 homes in Edmond

Mark Schlachtenhaufen The Edmond Sun

OKLAHOMA CITY — Three defendants, including an Edmond man, indicted in an alleged scheme involving local real estate pleaded not guilty in federal court Thursday.

Derrick Reuben Smith, 46, of Edmond, Michael Aziz Gipson, 60, of Oklahoma City, and Trina Tahir, 54, of Oklahoma City, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bana Roberts and all pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering in connection with fraudulent mortgages.

A $5,000 unsecured bond was set for each defendant, and the case is currently scheduled to be on the Sept. 13 trial docket of U.S. District Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti.

In short, the defendants are charged with allegedly inducing lenders to fund mortgages based on inflated real estate prices and misrepresenting the distribution of excessive loan proceeds to Smith as commissions and bonuses paid to Tahir.

According to the indictment, Smith allegedly recruited two individuals to buy two new homes in Edmond in mid-2006 and early 2007 for $425,000 and $435,000, respectively. 

The builder of both homes agreed that Tahir’s real estate brokerage, T&T Realty, would receive large commissions and bonuses totaling $51,950 and $77,950, respectively. 

The indictment alleges that after the closings, Tahir caused T&T Realty to write checks to Gipson, an agent at T&T Realty, for $27,059.86 and $58,000, respectively. 

Gipson then allegedly bought cashier’s checks in those same amounts payable to “MP Services,” a business that Smith operated. Smith allegedly paid $20,000 to the person who served as the buyer of the first house and used the rest of the money for his own purposes, according to court records.

The indictment also charges Gipson and Tahir with fraudulently misrepresenting the source of funds used as a down payment on a house that Gipson bought in Midwest City and charges Tahir with fraudulently disguising the payment of $9,295.52 to a buyer of a house in Oklahoma City as a real estate bonus.

The four wire fraud counts are based on interstate wires from lenders to fund the purchases of the four properties.

In addition to the conspiracy count and the four wire-fraud counts, the indictment includes nine counts of money laundering. In each of these, one of the defendants is charged with engaging in a financial transaction designed to conceal and disguise the nature, source and ownership of the proceeds of the mortgages, according to court records.

The indictments stem from an investigation conducted by the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. attorney’s office.



marks@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 108

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