A federal judge in San Diego sentenced Ethan Joseph Sanchez, a 30-year-old certified public accountant, to 63 months in prison on Oct. 30 and ordered him to forfeit more than $8.2 million taken from people who lent him money for accessory dwelling units that were never built. U.S. District Judge Robert S. Huie handed down the sentence in case 25-cr-04062. Sanchez had pleaded guilty under a plea agreement to wire fraud and money laundering.
The case shows how an investment fraud can run on a professional title and a plain promise rather than on any complicated product. Lenders were told their money would build backyard homes on specific properties and come back with interest. Not one of those homes was built, according to the prosecutors who brought the case.
The accessory dwelling unit pitch behind the 63-month sentence
Sanchez admitted in his plea agreement that he repeatedly lied to get victims to lend money to him and to his company, BSC Equity Ventures, LLC. He told them the funds would pay for real estate projects, including construction of accessory dwelling units on specified properties, and he promised prompt repayment of principal and interest, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said…