Senior accused defrauding people out of $2.5 million

A 67-year-old man accused of deceiving people out of millions through real estate fraud and a Ponzi scheme, including residents in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, sat in jail Wednesday in lieu of $2.5 million bail.

Joseph Anthony Veltre Jr. of Orange is scheduled to be arraigned May 22 on 62 felony counts with several enhancements claiming he lied, cheated and stole his way into $2.5 million between 2002 and 2007.

Veltre is accused of using his two Orange County businesses — Sea View Financial and Allied Corporate Investments — to pose as a “hard money” lender.

Prosecutors said Veltre solicited loans from private investors to hand over to homeowners who were looking for non-bank loans. But when those investors would give Veltre the money, he pocketed it, prosecutors said.

In one incident detailed in an arrest warrant for Veltre from last week, a Costa Mesa couple claim Veltre forged their signatures on notarized documents in February to get a $40,000 lien on their home.

Several times, prosecutors claim, Veltre would use his latest lump of stolen cash to make payments on his earlier, fraudulent loans, just like in a Ponzi scheme.

Police said in one incident he even paid back a loan in full to gain the victim’s trust. That victim eventually lent Venture a much larger sum that police said he never paid back.

Anyone who thinks they may have been a victim of Veltre is urged to call Newport Beach Det. Steve Rasmussen at (949) 644-3763 or supervising Dist. Atty. investigator Ron Frazier at (714) 347-8691.

Veltre faces up to 65 years and six months in prison if convicted on all charges.

— Joseph Serna