A realtor and businesswoman from metro Atlanta has been sentenced to prison for defrauding clients out of over $22 million over a two-year period.
Emily Moerdermo Fu has been sentenced to seven years and three months for mail fraud, according to U.S. Attorney Byung “BJay” Pak.
“While Fu was a well-respected real estate and financial professional, she took advantage of her reputation and clients’ trust to defraud them,” said Pak. “In some cases, she created fictitious closings and then pocketed the money. In other instances, she went through with the closings and used the property as collateral for unauthorized loans for her own benefit, meanwhile embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars in managing such properties.”
Fu operated Capital Management in Suwanee, which offered a range of services to investors in commercial properties around metro Atlanta. From 2004-2017, Fu established several investment companies for a group of clients for the supposed purchase of commercial real estate in Forsyth, Gwinnett, Fulton and other metro counties.
In November 2017, the investors discovered irregularities in the books of some of the investment companies. They confronted Fu and she admitted to embezzling around $930,000, according to Pak.
After a search of county property databases and other investigations, investigators discovered that Fu never followed through on several commercial real estate properties worth over millions of dollars. The properties included medical and shopping centers in Atlanta and across the metro area, Pak said.
Fu told her victims she completed the closings and was managing the properties, when she was actually diverting loans and investment funds for “ghost purchases” for herself.
In addition to serving seven years and three months in prison, she was also ordered to spend three years of supervised released and ordered to pay more than $22 million in restitution.
