Utah County fraud victims seek 2nd chance at restitution

PROVO — It's been four years since an Alpine man used real-estate promises to siphon nearly $23 million out of about 311 victims, then promised to make things right after he got caught.

Michael J. Fitzgerald still owes nearly $20 million in restitution, but despite that, several victims asked Monday in 4th District Court that he not be sentenced in August to what could be 15 years in prison.

Instead, they want him to be allowed to develop 23 acres in Beverly Hills that could bring in the long-awaited restitution.

"Some of us have lost our homes over it, including me," said investor Howard Francis. "We have been hurt significantly. Lives will be ruined if we don't have an opportunity to do this.

"I know it's asking a lot of the court to postpone this, it has gone on for a long time," Francis continued. "(But) we'd really like to have some help and give this plan an opportunity to go forward."

Fitzgerald, 51, pleaded no contest in November 2004 to five felonies of securities fraud, unregistered securities agent and pattern of unlawful activity for allegedly selling promissory notes on developments in California with no collateral backing, according to a 2004 release from the Utah Division of Securities.

A previous attorney told the Deseret News in an earlier story that he believed Fitzgerald was duped by his brother, Charles Elliott Fitzgerald, who took investment money and fled the country. He is being prosecuted by federal and California authorities for similar crimes.

Numerous calls to Michael Fitzgerald's current attorney for clarification were not returned.

Charles Fitzgerald was indicted, along with eight others, in a massive "house-flipping" and mortgage fraud scheme in high-priced California neighborhoods, according to a 2007 release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.

Charles Fitzgerald pleaded guilty on May 9 and is set to be sentenced Aug. 18, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in California. However, his plea agreement is sealed.

In July 2006 Michael Fitzgerald entered his no-contest pleas, legally identical to guilty pleas, as a plea-in-abeyance, meaning that if he complied with the agreement — which included paying off half of the restitution in two years — the case would eventually be dismissed.

He failed to do so, and the agreement was broken. He will be sentenced Aug. 18.

However, sending Fitzgerald to prison doesn't solve the victims' problems, his attorney, Mark Griffin, argues.

Instead, Griffin and numerous victims want him to develop the prime Beverly Hills acreage.

"The property is unique," Griffin said. "There are very few parcels like this remaining in Beverly Hills."

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