{"id":14334,"date":"2015-08-06T15:51:33","date_gmt":"2015-08-06T22:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14334"},"modified":"2015-08-06T15:52:49","modified_gmt":"2015-08-06T22:52:49","slug":"former-construction-boss-sentenced-to-more-than-15-years-in-prison-for-his-role-in-58-million-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14334","title":{"rendered":"Former Construction Boss Sentenced to More than 15 Years in Prison for His Role in $58 Million Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAS VEGAS<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

A federal judge today sentenced a \u00a0former construction boss to 15 years and eight months in prison for his role in a $58.1 million scheme to fraudulently gain control of condominium homeowners’ associations to land construction and other contracts for himself and others, officials said.<\/p>\n

Forty-two individuals have been convicted of crimes in connection with the scheme, according to officials.<\/p>\n

\"Leon<\/a>
Leon Benzer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Leon Benzer<\/strong>, 48, plead guilty on Jan. 23 \u00a0to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, 14 counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud and two counts of tax evasion.\u00a0 In addition to imposing the prison term, officials said.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan<\/strong> also ordered Benzer to pay restitution in the amount of $13.2 million, according to authorities.<\/p>\n

In his plea deal, Benzer admitted that from August 2003 to February 2009, \u00a0he and an attorney developed a scheme to control the boards of directors of Home Owners Associations in the Las Vegas area, officials said.<\/p>\n

According to plea documents, Benzer and his co-conspirators recruited straw buyers to purchase condominiums and secure positions on HOAs\u2019 boards of directors.<\/p>\n

Benzer admitted that he paid the board members to take actions favorable to his interests, including hiring his co-conspirator\u2019s law firm to handle construction-related litigation and awarding remedial construction contracts to Benzer\u2019s company, Silver Lining Construction,<\/strong> according to authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeon Benzer recruited and paid off puppets to serve on homeowners\u2019 boards so that they would steer lucrative contracts to his company and cronies,\u201d said Assistant Attorney General \u00a0Leslie Caldwell.\u00a0<\/strong> \u201cFar from enjoying their corrupt proceeds, however, Benzer and his co-conspirators will serve years behind prison bars.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FBI investigated this case.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LAS VEGAS A federal judge today sentenced a \u00a0former construction boss to 15 years and eight months in prison for his role in a $58.1 million scheme to fraudulently gain control of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[289,1516],"class_list":["post-14334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-conspiracy","tag-construction-scheme"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Las Vegas Construction Boss Sentenced to Prison<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Las Vegas construction boss sentenced to prison for fraudulent control of homeowners associations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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