A Huntington Beach auctioneer who accepted bribes to lower the amount of winning bids in trustee auctions, thereby defrauding banks, was sentenced Monday to two years in federal prison.
Reyna Peinado, 48, was sentenced this afternoon by United States District Judge Andrew J. Guilford.
According to a plea agreement, Peinado conspired with a confederate, not identified in court papers except by the initials S.F., to defraud the banks.
The scheme started in February 2002, and lasted for three months.
Peinado was conducting real estate auctions on the steps of the Orange County Courthouse on behalf of a trustee known as Reliable Posting and Publishing, which represented the banks that held title to the foreclosed properties.
Peinado began the auctions with an opening bid for an Orange County property and the attendees would call out bids, all of which the defendant would tally before declaring a winning bid. One the sales were conducted, Peinado called in the sale price and used an overnight courier to send a receipt of funds from the winning bidder to RPP, which posted the sale price.
Peinado would then contact the winning bidder to solicit a bribe in order to reduce the purchase price of the property between $15,5000 to $57,000 less than the winning bid price. Typically he took $5,000 per property.
It is estimated Peinado caused about $261,500 in losses to the bank.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI.
— City News Service