FRESNO, CA—Xue Heu, 38, of Modesto, was sentenced today to five years and three months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for investment fraud schemes in Fresno and Texas, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

United States District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill also ordered Heu to pay $1,166,366 in restitution to victims of the two fraud schemes.

According to court documents, between August 2007 and October 2013, Heu solicited individuals to invest in real estate businesses that purchased and sold real estate. Heu claimed to be an officer of Liquid Assets & Land Investments Inc. and Capital Land Investments LLC. In furtherance of the scheme and to persuade the investors that the investment opportunities were legitimate, Heu gave investors fraudulent documents, such as forged and fictitious grant deeds, fraudulent HUD-1 settlement statements, and portfolio listings of properties he claimed he intended to purchase, including properties that had already been sold and were no longer available to purchase. In his plea agreement, Heu admitted to defrauding investors of approximately $412,896.

According to court documents, between October 1, 2013, and December 31, 2013, Heu and others executed a second scheme to defraud real estate investors. Heu, using the alias “Michael Chan,” purported to be a representative of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and an authorized seller of property that had been foreclosed on by the United States government. Heu and a co-defendant lured investors into placing funds into escrow accounts established by another co-defendant and then converted the money to their own use. In his plea agreement, Heu admitted he was responsible for a loss to victims of $762,897. This case was originally charged in the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division, and was transferred to the Eastern District of California for Heu’s guilty plea and sentencing.

These cases were the product of investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Modesto, California and San Antonio, Texas and the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Henry Z. Carbajal III prosecuted the cases.