victim of a fraud

[bigstep]

If I give someone money to invest in real estate and that person never does invest it and uses the money for their own personal purpose, is that a crime? Fraud?

[karz]

Well, I am not a lawyer, but it sounds like it. Again, not a lawyer, but the devil may be in the details here...

How much mon was involved?

Is the person a friend or relative?

Was it a verbal or written agreement?

Are they a professional investor, real estate agent, or some acting in some sort of professional capacity while investing this money?

Did the money go to the individual, or to their 'company'?

If company, do they own/run company, or work there?

Was there a verbal or written time frame for said investment?

If so, did that time frame expire?

What were the verbal or written consequences if that time frame expired? And they did not do as you expected?

Did they offer to give you back the money?

Did you ask for the money back?

How much documentation can you produce to show they took the money, breached your agreement, and not returned the money?

How do you know they spent the money on something else?

These are probably just some of the questions you would have to answer before anyone could help you, qualify whether a crime has been committed, and if so, what crime exactly i.e., fraud, embezzlement, failure to do one thing or another, etc.

You should probably call/lookup the state bar association's referral service for your state. Many lawyers will at least consult w/ you over the phone to see if you have a case they'll meet with you about, I think.

But you will probably have to talk to a lawyer at some point, unless it's small claims court ($5k or less, right?), then maybe you can research the state laws yourself and file a civil suit in small claims court, or something? Just thinking out loud...

Karz