SAN JOSE, Calif. – A federal grand jury returned a 15-count indictment charging a Hillsborough, Calif., resident with wire fraud relating to a long-running scheme that defrauded his victims out of more than $1 million, United States Attorney Melinda Haag announced.

According to the indictment, which was unsealed today in San Jose, Resat Otus Nuri, aka Otus Resat Nuri, aka Resat Nuri Otus, aka Nuri Resat Otus, aka Resat, aka Otus, aka Nuri, 50, who did business under his own name, as well as other names, including Asset Management Associates, AHR Group, AuctioNet.com Inc. and Realm Connect, is alleged to have defrauded wholesale businesses and individuals by inducing them to enter into agreements to buy or sell telecommunications equipment that he had neither the intention nor capacity to perform.

Typically, Nuri initiated his scheme by contacting victims, usually by e-mail or telephone, and arranging for the purchase or sale of a small amount of telecommunications and other electronic equipment. During these contacts, Nuri falsely held himself out as being associated with large, well-known technology firms, telling his potential victims that he was able to obtain good deals on valuable merchandise as a result of these purported contacts.

The indictment also alleges that, after receiving the funds from a victim buyer or the goods from a victim seller, Nuri failed to perform as he had promised and refuse to return the funds or goods to his victims – offering them instead a pattern of excuses for his inability to perform. In a variation on this scam, Nuri promised to use his skills as a professional auctioneer to liquidate office equipment and split the proceeds with the client, only to then fail to provide an accounting of the results of the sale or pay victims the proceeds as agreed.

Nuri was arrested earlier today at his home in Hillsborough without incident, and search warrants were executed in Hillsborough and Burlingame, Calif. Nuri made his initial appearance before Magistrate Judge Howard R. Lloyd in federal court in San Jose this afternoon and was released on a $500,000 bond with electronic monitoring conditions. He is next scheduled to appear in federal court at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 20 before Magistrate Judge Lloyd, for a review of his bond. Nuri is scheduled to make his first appearance before United States District Court Judge D. Lowell Jensen at 9 a.m. on Jan. 10, 2013.

The maximum statutory penalty for each count of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343 is 20 years of in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the amount of gain or loss, whichever is greater, plus restitution if appropriate. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Timothy J. Lucey is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Laurie Worthen. The prosecution is the result of a year-long investigation by the United States Secret Service and the United States Postal Inspection Service.

Please note, an indictment contains only allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Nuri must be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

 

 

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