Real Estate Brokers|Face up to Five Years

SAN DIEGO (CN) - Two real estate brokers pleaded guilty to conspiracy Monday, for taking $4 million in bogus home sales in the San Diego area.

Adel Afkarian, 40, of Carlsbad, and Atef Afkarian, 38, of Slidell, La., pleaded guilty to a federal information accusing them of conspiring to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

The men admitted they fraudulently took the entire proceeds of the sales of homes in Del Mar, La Jolla and San Diego, from innocent purchasers, prosecutors said in a statement.

"The defendants also acknowledged that they used sham entities to execute and record documents falsely purporting to affect the legal title to the properties, including fraudulent deeds of trust and reconveyances that falsely purported to totally eliminate the existing debt to institutional lenders secured by the properties," the U.S. attorney said. "During the course of the scheme the defendants sold their own property and properties of others with a combined sales price of more than $4,000,000."

They face up to five years in prison at their March 17, 2014, sentencings.

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