Man pleads guilty in Fla. to $1.3B scheme

MIAMI — A California man pleaded guilty in Florida to orchestrating a $1.3 billion real estate fraud scheme that stole money from thousands of investors nationwide and agreed to forfeit jewelry, wine and paintings by artists such as Picasso and Renoir.

Court records show Robert Shapiro, 61, of Sherman Oaks, California, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Miami federal court to mail and wire fraud and tax evasion. He faces up to 25 years in prison at sentencing in October before U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga.

At least 9,000 people, many of them elderly who invested their retirement savings, suffered losses in the scheme, Miami federal prosecutors say.

Prosecutors say Shapiro’s Woodbridge Group had offices employing 130 people in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florentered ida and Tennessee. The pitch to investors was that Woodbridge held real estate loans that would pay them rates of interest of 5% to 10%.

The real estate was also owned by Shapiro through 270 shell companies and did not generate the necessary money for investors. Sometimes, the properties did not exist.

It became a Ponzi scheme that paid older investors with money from newer ones, court records show. Five states cease-and-desist orders because Woodbridge was selling unregistered securities.

Authorities say the scam operated from at least July 2012 to December 2017.

In 2017, the company filed for bankruptcy and defaulted on its obligations to investors.

As part of the plea agreement, Shapiro and his wife, Jeri, agreed to forfeit assets including paintings by Picasso and others.