The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Elchonon “Elie” Schwartz of New York City was sentenced in the Northern District of Georgia to 87 months in prison and ordered to pay over USD 45 million in restitution for a scheme that defrauded investors in commercial real estate investments in Atlanta, Georgia and Miami Beach, Florida, raising more than USD 62.8 million via the CrowdStreet Marketplace crowdfunding platform. According to court documents, Schwartz raised approximately USD 54 million for a large Atlanta commercial real estate complex and approximately USD 8.8 million for a Miami Beach mixed-use building, while representing that investor funds would be safeguarded in segregated accounts and used only for each property. Instead, he directed substantially all investor money to personal bank and brokerage accounts and to accounts for unrelated real estate investments he controlled, using funds for luxury watches, stock and options trading, and payroll for other businesses; two entities he formed to receive the funds filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in mid-July 2023. Schwartz pleaded guilty in February 2025 to one count of wire fraud; the FBI investigated the case with assistance from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement.

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