(Getty Pictures)
A man who ran a real estate scam out of Oregon and Costa Rica when he spent more than 20 years on the run in a separate case, pleaded guilty to multiple charges in California last week.
Robin James McPherson pleaded guilty in federal court in San Diego to failure to appear, willful attempt to evade income tax and wire fraud, according to a Oregon US Attorney’s Office press release.
McPherson, who was convicted at a trial in California in 2000 of conspiracy to defraud the IRS and tax evasion, fled the United States in March 2001 before his sentencing.
In 2019, the FBI began investigating McPherson after multiple people said they were victims of a real estate scam in Oregon and Costa Rica, the statement said. The scam called a fake real estate development company – Carara Parque Resort Corporation – to build resort villas in the Central American country.
McPherson, authorities say, lured potential investors through cold calling, websites and social media, ultimately wired about $1.2 million to an Oregon bank account and then transferred to an account in Costa Rica between 2015 and 2019, according to the release.
While he provided a litany of excuses to investors as to why the villas had not been built, McPherson used the funds to pay for his personal expenses, including his own mortgage, according to the statement.
McPherson was arrested in Costa Rica in 2022 for money laundering and fraud and extradited to San Diego, where he pleaded guilty. He will be sentenced on April 28.
Wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison; tax evasion and failure to appear are each punishable by up to five years in federal prison, the statement said. All three counts also carry fines of up to $250,000 or double a defendant’s gross gains or losses, and three-year supervised release, the DOJ said.