Arizona Real Estate Notebook

This fraud isn’t in the same league as the one below but look at the names involved, Realogy and Prudential!

The suit, filed on Wednesday in the central district of California, seeks to recover ‘illegitimate profits’ generated by ‘sham’ joint ventures formerly operated by Realogy Corp., Prudential California Realty and Property I.D. Corp.

Under California law, home sellers or their real estate agents are required to provide a statement of hazards, such as flooding, fires, or earthquake fault lines, usually in the settlement process for a property sale, according to the government.

The suit alleges that over the past ten years, Property I.D., which provides hazard reports, formed a number of joint venture ‘sham’ companies with real estate brokers.

The suit alleges the companies were created for the sole purpose of referring business to Property I.D. and that brokers who made referrals received kickbacks through the ‘sham’ companies.