By Khalida Sarwari
An expensive home remodeling project, clothing, home furnishings and two luxury cars–these are just some of the items Jill Marie Silvey purchased with the $1.2 million that prosecutors say she stole from nearly 30 clients while working as a real estate agent in the area.
Silvey, 50, is facing 44 felony fraud charges for allegedly maintaining a seven-year fake investment scheme, according to prosecutors. She is behind bars on $3 million bail and awaiting a Sept. 11 plea hearing at Santa Clara County Superior Court.
The high bail, deputy district attorney Paul Colin said, represents the length of time, number of victims involved and scope of Silvey’s alleged scheme.
“It indicates a certain amount of sophistication,” he said.
Silvey’s attorney, Cameron Watt, said his client would plead not guilty to all charges and enhancements. He said he has yet to go through the breadth of evidence in the case.
“I think bail is excessive in this case. However, we are not focusing on that at this time; we are focusing on restitution issues,” Watt said.
Silvey was arrested on June 27 at her home in San Jose following an investigation that began late last year after some of her clients alerted the district attorney’s real estate fraud unit to a suspicious activity.
Prosecutors believe that from 2005 to 2011, Silvey created at least 14 fraudulent loans, with the biggest loan given to herself. Prosecutors say she convinced at least 13 different investors to lend their money to homeowners in return for monthly interest payments. The loan was supposedly secured by the homes, Colin said. However, the home-owners did not know about the loans. All the transactions were fictitious, and she forged the names of real borrowers to create fake loan documents and deeds, Colin alleged. She allegedly paid back some investors with other investors’ money.
The loans were short-term, Colin said, ranging from one to five years. The investors were expecting to get interest payments every month for a period of time, he said. Over the course of seven years, each client paid her anywhere from $10,000 to $400,000.
According to prosecutors, the investigation revealed that Silvey had falsely promised her own home as collateral for a $400,000 loan that she received from a couple she knew, Colin said.
Silvey is also facing elder fraud charges because several of her victims are at least 65 years old.
She received her real estate license in March 2002 and has previously worked at real estate agencies in Campbell, Colin said.
Colin advised those who are looking to invest their money to have verifications and safeguards, even when dealing with people they trust.
“That’s typically how a con artist succeeds; they have expertise in creating trust and exploiting that trust,” he said.
He advised people to never offer or accept cash payments for real estate investments and to use an escrow company to transfer their money to the borrower and get a recorded deed of trust.
He said there will likely be additional charges in the case. If convicted of all charges, Silvey could face up to 31 years in prison.
