Attorney General Phil Weiser charges five with racketeering, felony theft in home remodeling contractor fraud scheme

Attorney General Phil Weiser charges five with racketeering, felony theft in home remodeling contractor fraud scheme

Jan. 10, 2025 (DENVER)-The statewide grand jury indicted five people on 34 counts for allegedly carrying out a widespread home remodeling contractor fraud scheme from July 2021 through December 2024 in the Denver area, Attorney General Phil Weiser announced today.

Schwalb Builders and Avi's Remodeling and Contracting are affiliated companies that conducted general contracting services throughout the Denver area. According to the grand jury indictment unsealed by a Denver District Court judge today, owners Sean Schwalb and Avi Schwalb, and their employees Kevin Allbritton, Michael Stein, and Blanca Dominguez allegedly collaborated to solicit home remodeling contracts, collect customer deposits, and then failed to complete any work on the projects. In some instances, Schwalb Builders abandoned the projects after starting demolition or performing faulty work on the homes, leaving the homes damaged and uninhabitable.

In all instances, the members of the alleged criminal ring failed to return customer funds for incomplete or defective work. A financial analysis of bank account records belonging to Sean and Avi Schwalb and their businesses showed that Schwalb Builders and Avi's Remodeling received $1,145,271 in customer funds that were not spent on the specific customers' projects or returned to the specific customers when they asked for a refund. The defendants repeatedly used a set of deceptive tactics to commit financial fraud on their contracting customers, according to the indictment.

Colorado's construction trust fund law, C.R.S. §38-22-127, requires that collected customer funds be held in trust by the contractor for the consumer's designated project. A person may be charged with criminal theft if they violate the construction fund law.

"Fraudsters who steal hard-earned dollars from consumers need to be held accountable. In this case, we are making plain that this type of alleged theft and contractor fraud won't be tolerated in Colorado. We'll continue to work hard to get money back to homeowners who were defrauded in this scheme and bring justice to those who violate the law," said Attorney General Weiser.

The defendants are charged with racketeering and conspiracy under of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, both of which are class two felonies, and 32 counts various degrees of felony theft. The cases are filed in Denver District Court under case numbers 2024CR15181 and 2024CR15182. The Schwalbs were booked in the Denver jail on January 5.

The Special Prosecutions Unit in the Criminal Justice Section of the Colorado Department of Law is prosecuting the case.

A grand jury indictment is a formal accusation that an individual committed a crime under Colorado laws. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

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