Germantown investment scam, federal prison for business partners
Joe Nemeth; Jeremy Arrington
GERMANTOWN, Wis. - The head of a defunct Germantown real estate company was sentenced July 24 to 16 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud.
Joe Nemeth was accused of taking nearly $3 million from investors, using it for other purposes. His former business partner, Jeremy Arrington, was sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison for fraud last year.
In a strip mall off of Mequon Road in Germantown, Wisconsin Home Buyer's Network was once headquartered – a shipping store, registered to a mailbox inside.
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The federal government said Arrington and Nemeth were taking money from investors, promising little or no risk, and offering returns from 12-36%. Instead, they used that money to pay off debt, delinquent taxes and other financial issues.
Between 2012 and 2017, the federal government said Arrington and Nemeth received $2.8 million in funds from 16 investors. When they were unable to pay the returns, the government said the two tried to get extensions, additional money and new investors in what federal authorities said was a Ponzi-type scheme. In all, prosecutors say less than $500,000 in investor funds were returned.
Arrington was charged in August 2021 with one count of wire fraud and pleaded guilty that October. Nemeth was charged with the same count in May 2022.
Both men will have to pay approximately more than $2 million back as a part of restitution in the case.