Wisconsin Real Estate Broker Found Guilty of Kickback

Larry J. Lupton, a real estate broker from Brookfield, Wisconsin, has been found guilty of soliciting a kickback in connection with the state's attempted sale of a $30 million office building in downtown Madison.After hearing testimony and receiving evidence during a court trial earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman found Lupton guilty on all four counts charged in the indictment: bribery, wire fraud and two counts of making false statements to an FBI agent. Lupton solicited a payment from a particular buyer's broker in exchange for steering the sale to that broker's client. Lupton asked the broker for a $75,000 kickback and suggested to the broker that the payment could be in the form of cash paid directly to Lupton or a consulting fee paid to a defunct company that he owned. Either form of payment would allow Lupton to conceal it from the state and from Equis Corporation, the real estate firm that had retained Lupton as an independent contractor. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.