North Miami Beach Resident Sentenced to Over 7 Years in Prison for $3.5 Million Fraud Scheme Targeting Orthodox Jewish Community

Ariana Fajardo Orshan, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, and Rick Swearingen, Commissioner, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), announced that on August 6, 2019, Shayeh Dov, 49 years old, of North Miami Beach, Florida, was sentenced to eighty-seven (87) months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $3,087,972 in restitution to victims by Senior U.S. District William J. Zloch.

According to court documents, Dov pled guilty on February 7, 2019, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick M. Hunt, to the sole count of an Information that charged him with Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349 (Case No. 19-60006-CR-ZLOCH).   Dov’s guilty plea was accepted on February 20, 2019, by U.S. District Judge William J. Zloch.

According to the court record, beginning in May 2012, and continuing through May 2019, Dov was the mastermind behind an affinity fraud scheme that targeted members of the Orthodox Jewish community in South Florida and New York.  Dov exploited the community’s close bonds of trust to obtain money for fraudulent investments.  Dov presented investment opportunities in distressed or foreclosed mortgage notes through companies he owned and/or operated, including P&S Inc., Notez LLC, and Notes LLC.  The mortgage note properties were located in Broward, Miami-Dade and other counties throughout the State of Florida, as well as other states.  Dov would oftentimes engage investors in a legitimate transaction(s) and then conduct a fraudulent transaction.

Dov bought, sold and offered investors mortgage notes at a discount because these notes were attached to delinquent and/or foreclosed real estate.  Dov used high pressure sales tactics to sell these discounted notes.  Dov falsely claimed he maintained inside connections to financial institutions and told investors that they had a very limited window to purchase the notes, in order to induce individuals to invest.

Information in court records further revealed that the fraudulent transactions further involved selling notes to investors that Dov and/or the aforementioned companies did not own and were not actually for sale.  Dov also would purport to sell notes that he previously sold to other purchasers years ago that were not available for sale.  In at least one instance, Dov sold the same note to two different investors approximately five days apart. 

            In addition, Dov directed investors to wire the monies to bank accounts he controlled.  The investors’ funds were used to pay Dov’s personal and travel expenses, including gambling, mortgage payments, luxury automobile loans, and, in limited circumstances, to pay back previous note investors who were defrauded.  The monies were not, however, used to purchase the mortgage notes that were promised to investors.

U.S. Attorney Fajardo Orshan commended the investigative efforts of the FBI and FDLE in this matter.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Randy Katz.