SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA – An Orange County auctioneer who defrauded banks by accepting bribes to lower the amount of winning bids in trustee auctions was sentenced Monday to two years in federal prison, federal officials said today.
Reyna Peinado, 48, of Huntington Beach admitted to conspiring with another person – identified in court papers by the initials “S.F.” – in a scheme to defraud banks.
The crime took place between February 2012 and lasted for about three months, officials said.
Peinado conducted real estate auctions on the steps of the Orange County Courthouse on behalf of a trustee known as Reliable Posting and Publishing , which represented banks which held title of the foreclosed properties.
Peinado began the auctions with an opening bid for a property located in Orange County, and attendees would then call out bids, all of which the defendant would tally before declaring a winning bidder.
Once the trustee sales were conducted, Peinado called in the sale price and used an overnight courier to send a receipt of funds and cashiers’ checks from the winning bidder to Reliable Posting and Publishing, which posted the sale price on the website for the property.
At the conclusion of some of the trustee sales, officials said Peinado contacted the winning bidder to solicit a bribe in order to reduce the purchase price of the property.
In return for about $5,000 per property, authorities said Peinado reduced the sale price from between $15,000 to $57,000 less than the winning bid purchase price.
By reducing the purchase price on seven properties, Peinado caused approximately $261,500 in losses to the banks.
The FBI conducted the investigation.