SANTA ANA, California – A Hawaii man was sentenced today to 48 months in federal prison for defrauding a 79-year-old Orange County victim out of nearly $2 million via false promises to broker the sale of the victim’s yacht and by taking out unauthorized loans against the victim’s Irvine condominium, which left the victim homeless.
John Tamahere McCabe, 42, of Kailua, Hawaii, was sentenced by United States District Judge Fred W. Slaughter, who also ordered him to pay $1,814,000 in restitution.
From July 2017 to January 2024, McCabe devised and executed a scheme to defraud the victim. McCabe offered to help the victim sell his yacht and promised to transfer the sale’s proceeds to the victim. What the victim did not know was McCabe used fabricated documents to change the ownership of the yacht to McCabe’s name. Once the yacht was in his name, McCabe then diverted the proceeds to his own personal bank account and used most of the proceeds for his own personal purposes…