BALTIMORE, MD—A former Talbot County attorney plead guilty this week to wire fraud in connection with a scheme to take money intended for real estate investments for his personal use, officials said.
Aaron G. Seltzer, age 38, of Trappe, Maryland, is facing up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud. He will be sentenced in April, officials said.
Prosecutors said that from January 2008, through 2010, Seltzer offered victims fraudulent investment opportunities then diverted the money intended for the investments for his own benefit.
Seltzer obtained a total of $768,242 through seven fraudulent transactions, prosecutors said. As part of his plea agreement, Seltzer is required to pay restitution in that amount.
Seltzer, for example, offered to sell an investor 45 percent of an Anne Arundel County real estate company, claiming that he owned 100% of the stock, assets and liabilities of the company, when in fact, he did not.
The investor sent a total of $92,000 to Seltzer, which Seltzer used for his own benefit.
During the summer of 2009, Seltzer contacted a lawyer in New York and represented that a client of Seltzer’s was seeking a business loan. Seltzer proposed that the loan be secured by a mortgage on three commercial properties located in Virginia, purportedly owned by Seltzer’s client.
The New York attorney assembled a group of investors to fund the loan. Seltzer presented the attorney with a fraudulent promissory note, which Seltzer falsely claimed was signed by a representative of his client.
Seltzer further falsely represented that he had conducted the closing for the loan and presented the attorney with fabricated closing documents. On behalf of the investors, the attorney wired Seltzer $497,527 to fund the loan, which Seltzer diverted to his own benefit.
Seltzer was investigated by the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission for his conduct in the scheme and was subsequently disbarred.