A 47-year-old Cottage Grove, Minn., man was sentenced for defrauding investors out of more than $5 million in a multi-state, house-flipping scheme. U.S. District Court Chief Judge Michael Davis sentenced Robert Dufresne Jr. to 97 months in federal prison on one count of mail fraud and one count of money laundering in relation to his crime. In addition, Dufresne was ordered to pay more than $6.5 million in restitution. The sentence was longer than expected because the court found that Dufresne had obstructed justice by seeking to dispose of assets after entering his guilty plea on Feb.18, 2011. He was charged on Feb. 7, 2011.
In his plea agreement, Dufresne admitted that between October 2005 and October 2008, he sought investors to supply funds purportedly for the purchase, rebuilding, and resale of
residential properties in Minnesota and other states. Investors expected the sale proceeds to be
divided among them. However, Dufresne used the initial investment funds for his personal
benefit and relied on subsequent investment funds to pay off the initial investors.
This case was the result of an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation
Division. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert Lewis and James
Alexander.