Glendale man pleads guilty to scamming investors out of $8 million

A Glendale man pleaded guilty on Thursday to running three separate scams, including a Ponzi scheme that defrauded 30 families out of more than $8 million.

Kaveh Vahedi, 51, also acknowledged his involvement in a mortgage fraud scam where at least 250 falsified loan applications were submitted through his brokerage firm, Countywide Financial — not to be confused with Calabasas-based Countrywide Home Loans, which was ordered in 2010 to pay $108 million for overcharging struggling homeowners and mishandling loans of borrowers in bankruptcy.

In addition, Vahedi admitted stealing more than $700,000 from his parents by cleaning out their bank account and taking out a loan on their home.

Vahedi -- who did not address the downtown Los Angeles courtroom Thursday morning beyond entering his plea -- agreed to plead guilty to one count of wire fraud for the Ponzi scheme and one count of conspiracy in connection with the mortgage fraud scam earlier this week, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

He also agreed to plead guilty to one count of bank fraud in relation to a previously filed criminal case related to the fraud against his parents.

In the plea deal, Vahedi admitted to convincing more than 30 investors to hand over approximately $12 million to invest on their behalf. According to prosecutors, he used his investment company, KGV Investments, to give clients them the impression he made hundreds of millions of dollars brokering international bond deals.

Investors ended up losing more than $8 million.

Vahedi, who has been in federal custody since May, faces a maximum sentence of 55 years in federal prison.

-- Mark Kellam, Times Community News

Follow Mark Kellam on Twitter: @LAMarkKellam