Beth McCann
District Attorney
Second Judical District
370 17th Street, Suite 5300,
Denver, CO 80202
720-913-2000
Beth.McCann@denverda.org
News Release
April 24, 2018 Contact: Ken Lane, 720-913-9025
Two Plead Guilty in Separate Real Estate Development Scams (Button, Boston)
NEWS RELEASE –
April 24, 2018
Contact: Ken Lane, 720-913-9025
TWO MEN PLEAD GUILTY IN SEPARATE RACKETEERING CASES
Two men separately accused of real estate development scams pleaded guilty yesterday in their respective cases.
Robert Button (dob: 10-14-1963) was indicted by a Denver grand jury in November 2016 and charged with one count of violation of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act-COCCA (F2) along with several counts of theft, money laundering, securities fraud, identity theft, and forgery. Button pleaded guilty yesterday to the racketeering charge and to one count of identity theft (F4). Sentencing is scheduled for June 21. Button faces a possible prison sentence of up to 30 years.
The November 2016 indictment alleged that between May 2014 and November 2016 Button used multiple entities to take out multi-million dollar construction loans from two area banks on three Denver townhome developments and using money from those loans for his own personal benefit rather than paying for the developments. Button accomplished the theft by submitting forged invoices from the general contractor and submitting them to the banks for construction draws. Button would then deposit the checks into an account under his own control and divert the funds to other accounts unrelated to any of the three development projects. Button also failed to disclose material facts to numerous other investors in the development projects. Estimated losses to banks and private investors were estimated at approximately $8 million.
Elliott Boston III (dob: 05-11-1969) was indicted by a Denver grand jury in April 2017 and charged with one count of violation of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act-COCCA (F2) along with several counts of securities fraud, theft, identity theft, and forgery. Boston pleaded guilty yesterday to the racketeering charge and to one count of theft (F4). Sentencing is scheduled for August 3. Boston faces a possible prison sentence of up to 24 years.
The April 2017 indictment alleged that between September 2013 and April 2017 Boston established or used several business entities to fraudulently solicit almost a million dollars from ten individuals and one business entity from across the country to be used for the rehabilitation of ten “fix and flip” construction projects throughout the Denver area. The ten properties Boston purchased to fix and flip were sold at a loss, or were foreclosed on by the hard money lenders, resulting in the investors collectively sustaining losses. The indictment further alleged that Boston used investors’ funds for his own personal benefit.
Boston’s co-defendant Dan Jey (dob: 04-19-1965) was charged with several counts of securities fraud. Jey is currently scheduled for a jury trial in May.
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