ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. (WFXR) – On Friday, January 17, the US Department of Justice Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Virginia announced a man has pleaded guilty to real estate and tax fraud in a $1.3 million scheme in Roanoke County.
According to the DOJ, 41-year-old Herman Lee Estes Jr. has pled guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, and filing false claims against the United States.
Court records and statements made during the trial reveal that in 2021, Estes submitted fraudulent income tax returns claiming he was entitled to a $18.3 million refund. Then in March 2023, Estes offered to buy a property on Old Mill Plantation Road in Roanoke County with a $1.3 million cash offer.
As part of the scheme, Estes also submitted a fraudulent proof of funds letter created using an online form. Estes then sought the help of a co-conspirator claiming to be a trust manager who purportedly approved the use of trust funds for the transaction to the real estate agent.
A fraudulent cashier’s check was then signed by Estes for $1,307,199.43, purportedly drawn by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and then debited to the settlement company’s trust account.
Estes then filed another false tax, again in March of 2023, this time claiming he was owed a refund of $2.9 Million.
Estes is scheduled for sentencing at a later date. He faces up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, and mail fraud counts, up to 30 years for bank fraud, up to five years for false claim counts, the possibility of additional penalties for the commission of these offenses while released on bond, supervision upon his release, as well as restitution and monetary penalties.