Real estate investor pleads guilty to $3M fraud scheme

A real estate investor formerly from Rochester has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges.

As announced by the United States Attorney's Office – Eastern Division in Detroit, 37-year-old Sean Tissue, aka Sean Ryan, pleaded guilty Feb. 28 to wire fraud and bankruptcy fraud before U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith.

Tissue, of Social Circle, Georgia, owned numerous companies including The Centureon Companies LLC, Greystone Home Builders LLC, Lenovo Homes LLC, NROL Holdings LLC, Phillip Ryan LLC, Boardwalk Heights B2R LLC, and NROL Property and Investment LLC. In his plea, he admitted to stealing more than $3 million in a fraud scheme that officials said ran from 2015 through 2021.

According to court documents, Tissue or his agents provided fraudulent information to potential investors from Israel, India, South Africa and other countries to induce potential investments in real estate in Michigan, Texas and elsewhere. Money was sent to him through interstate or international wire transactions.

Court documents also show that Tissue furthered the fraud scheme by having deeds, wiring instructions, bank statements, leases and inspection reports — all fake — provided to investors. He also used the fake name "Sean Ryan."

Additionally, Tissue had a bankruptcy fraud scheme that ran from November 2017 through early May 2019 by falsely withholding recorded information on his assets and financial affairs after filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. He was initially arrested on a wire fraud charge and has been in custody since.

Tissue faces up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud and up to five years for bankruptcy fraud.

"Sean Tissue orchestrated an elaborate scheme to defraud individual investors. He tried to avoid repaying those investors by declaring bankruptcy, and his lies and deceits continued in the bankruptcy proceeding," U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison stated in a news release. "This guilty plea is an important step towards holding Mr. Tissue accountable for his actions and reflects my office's commitment to prosecuting financial crime and protecting the integrity of the bankruptcy system."

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