Two reports from the Buffalo News. "A Kuwaiti realtor and his multiple companies bought or brokered at least 160 houses in struggling Buffalo neighborhoods as part of an international Ponzi scheme. The realtor and his associates are serving prison time in the $140 million to $240 million scam that extended to Rochester, Detroit, Cleveland, Florida and North Carolina."

"More than 6,400 miles away, Kuwaiti realtor AbdulAziz HouHou and associates were hunting for investment properties in the United States. In Buffalo, they found plenty. HouHou and his multiple real estate companies bought or brokered at least 160 low-end houses in Black Rock-Riverside, South Buffalo, the West Side, and the city's East Side – almost all of which were resold to other Kuwaitis."

"Almost six years after HouHou's house-hunting spree began, struggling Buffalo neighborhoods are still contending with the path of blight the Kuwaiti real estate broker left behind, including vacant, dilapidated and foreclosed properties."

"It was a Ponzi scheme financed by as many as 2,000 unsuspecting investors who bought as many as 3,000 properties, mostly in the United States, said Ali Al-Attar, an attorney for the Kuwaiti investors. The scam has not been reported in the United States until now."

"HouHou and his companies promised investors 15 percent returns, with a management company taking care of everything from tenant leasing to repairs and rent collection. In reality, the Kuwaiti investors said, the houses often turned out to be run-down, usually vacant or needing substantial repairs, and in struggling urban neighborhoods. Some were dilapidated the day they were sold; others quickly deteriorated from lack of maintenance, Kuwaitis learned."

"Sometimes, the Kuwaiti court found, HouHou and his firms sold the same house to two different investors at the same time. Sometimes they sold houses that weren't for sale. Half of the 40 houses HouHou sold in Buffalo on a single day in December 2015 were vacant at the time of sale, according to a Buffalo housing inspections report. HouHou companies also sold vacant lots, mostly in Florida but also in North Carolina, for future development that never materialized, records show."

"Of the 160 houses flipped in Buffalo from late 2013 through mid-2016, about a quarter ended up with housing court judgments, and about half ended up in foreclosure, The Buffalo News found."

"Alhashemi said he paid a HouHou firm $103,000 for a two-story house. Alhashemi later learned he didn't actually buy anything. Neither HouHou nor any HouHou companies ever owned the Ontario Street property, records show. Yet, Alhashemi said, HouHou's firm 'sold' it to two separate investors within a year's time. Neither buyer ever received a property deed."

"At first, Alhashemi said, he was happy with the purchase. Shortly after the contract was signed, HouHou's's firm began forwarding him $1,350 monthly rent payments, he said. But after nine or 10 months, the promised deed still hadn't arrived. And the rent payments stopped. 'I called the company in Kuwait,' Alhashemi said. 'Their sales people promised to call back, and they didn't call back.'"

"A Rochester real estate agent also contacted the FBI. 'We talked about the escalated sales prices and that money was being wired overseas to HouHou but that property owners were not being paid rents,' said agent Carole Snow."

"Buffalo, meanwhile, like other cities struck by HouHou's scam, continues addressing the fallout, dealing with houses like the one at 25 Mesmer Ave., which has sat largely vacant since HouHou bought and flipped it in 2015. The house is headed for foreclosure, and likely demolition, officials said."

"'HouHou never should have sold it,' Alhasan said of the house his family bought from HouHou. 'We cannot keep up with the financial burden of this house.'"

"Drive around Buffalo, and you're bound to pass a house flipped through Kuwaiti real estate broker AbdulAziz HouHou. It's hard to avoid them, especially on the city's East Side. Continue driving and you'll come across another HouHou house at 43 Goembel Ave., off Walden. There are no doors or windows. It is pretty much a shell."

"After buying the house for $2,500 in August 2014, owner Glebova Realty Group flipped the house two days later to a Kuwaiti investor for $43,000, with HouHou's firm serving as broker. The Kuwaiti investor sold the house for $6,000 in April 2018 to buyers from Brooklyn, records show."

From Fox 61 on Florida. "A real estate developer and friend of former Connecticut governor John Rowland pled guilty in connection with fraud schemes Thursday. Robert V. Matthews, 61, of Palm Beach Florida, pleaded guilty in Bridgeport federal court to conspiracy, money laundering and tax evasion offenses related to multiple schemes to defraud foreign investors and financial institutions. In addition, Matthews’ wife, Maria Matthews, 52, pleaded guilty in Bridgeport to tax evasion."

"Matthews helped Rowland lease and sell Rowland’s Washington DC condo at inflated prices. Officials said Robert Matthews was a real estate developer in charge of The Palm House Hotel , a property that he sought to develop in Palm Beach."

"In a statement, law enforcement officials said the following about the case: The EB-5 visa program is a federal program by which foreign nationals and their families are eligible to apply for lawful permanent resident status (commonly known as a 'green card') if they meet certain requirements by investing in a development project in the U.S."

"In pleading guilty, Matthews admitted that he and others defrauded EB-5 investors by representing that funds from EB-5 investors would be used to develop the PHH; that certain well-known individuals would be on the PHH advisory board and certain well-known entertainers, businesspeople and politicians 'will be a part of the club.'"

"As part of this scheme, Robert Matthews and others moved investor funds through various bank accounts located in Connecticut and Florida. The funds were used to pay Robert and Maria Matthews’ credit card debts, and to purchase two properties located in Washington Depot, Connecticut. One of the Washington Depot properties was a property that Robert Matthews had previously lost in foreclosure. Robert Matthews, Nicholas Laudano and others conspired to purchase the property out of foreclosure by concealing both the relationship between the co-conspirators, and the source of the funds used to purchase the property."