A San Gabriel, Calif. man who pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud for defrauding at least 50 families out of more than $11 million is being sought by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for failing to show up to his sentencing.
In his plea agreement more than eight months ago, David Kaup admitted to carrying out three separate fraud schemes that caused millions in losses to victims. But last month, Kaup did not appear in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to learn about the fate of his future, prosecutors said, and is still on the run.
Kaup said all of these scams took place over a five-year period while he operated several companies, including Lunden Investments, American Loans and Funding, and First Mortgage West.
Through Lunden Investments, Kaup convinced investors to give him more than $9 million which he said was going to be used for commercial loans. However, Kaup lost the victims’ money trading on the Foreign Currency Exchange Market.
After defrauding these victims, Kaup deceived homeowners into sending him money though his second company, ALF. For this scam, Kaup told homeowners that he could refinance their homes at below market rates as long as they provided certain funds up front to demonstrate that they financially qualified for the special loan terms.
These funds were supposed to be kept safe during the loan process and returned when the loan was either approved or denied. However, Kaup admitted that he never tried to refinance the homeowners’ loans and instead used the money to trade on the Foreign Currency Exchange Market and to buy luxury items for himself.
After this scheme collapsed, Kaup stated that he ran the same scheme through FMW. Overall, through ALF and FMW, an additional $2 million was taken from working class families who were relying upon Kaup to help them with their mortgage problems.
To carry out all of these schemes, Kaup used several aliases like “David Smith” and “David Martinez.”
The FBI said Kaup, 29, has black hair and brown eyes. He is 5 feet, 11 inches and 190 pounds. According to prosecutors, he has been known to work as a disc jockey in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas areas under the nickname “New Age Dave.”
Anyone with information regarding Kaup can contact the FBI at (888) 226-8443.
