Joel Greenberg associate pleads guilty in fraud case days after co-defendant’s death

Keith Ingersoll, an associate of former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to federal fraud charges, admitting he took part in a multistate real estate scheme that scammed an investor for millions of dollars.

Ingersoll pleaded guilty to five of 41 charges against him in exchange for cooperation with federal prosecutors. The agreement will next be reviewed by U.S. Senior District Judge Gregory Presnell after Magistrate Judge Embry Kidd recommended it be accepted.

An investigation will also take place before a final decision is made on the agreement and his sentence.

Ingersoll’s guilty pleas came days after his business partner and codefendant, James Adamczyk, died Sunday from throat cancer that spread into his lungs, according to his lawyer Brian Phillips. Adamczyk had pleaded not guilty.

Ingersoll faces the possibility of more than 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to two charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one charge of wire fraud, one charge of attempted wire fraud and a charge of aggravated identity theft.

He would also have to forfeit the money received as part of the scheme. According to the plea agreement, Ingersoll made $9.8 million by defrauding a local investor identified in court records as L.W.’

Court records show Ingersoll, Adamczyk and others worked to scam the wealthy investor by convincing him they needed $12.7 million to put down as deposits for land purchases throughout the U.S., including Florida, Nebraska, Alabama and Illinois, as well as the Bahamas.

The two concocted stories for what the money would purchase, including a hospital in Nebraska, while forging documents to make the deals appear legitimate, prosecutors said. The investor sent millions to the scammers with their promise that the properties would be flipped and he would receive a share of the profits.

Instead, they spent it on luxuries for themselves, according to the plea agreement.

Ingersoll was a longtime friend of Greenberg before he was elected Seminole County tax collector in 2016. Greenberg quickly hired Ingersoll as a real estate advisor, and Ingersoll and Adamcyzk soon after took part in a property-flipping scheme with the public office.

Using a newly formed company, Adamcyzk purchased a former bank building in Winter Springs for $680,000 and sold it hours later to Greenberg’s office for $942,000, a price prosecutors said “was falsely and fraudulently inflated” to Ingersoll and others involved.

Ingersoll agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud for that transaction. His plea agreement did not name Greenberg or the agency but details in the document matched the bank building purchase.

Prosecutors say after the June 2017 sale, Ingersoll chartered a private jet to a casino with the public official three times, giving him more than $1,000 in casino chips as a kickback.

Greenberg resigned in June 2020 and pleaded guilty in May 2021 to six felonies , including sex trafficking of a child, identity theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a public official. He is currently in the Orange County Jail awaiting sentencing on Dec. 1.

creyes-rios@orlandosentinel.com

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