Court ruling stops fraudulent real estate investor

Todd Teal, a real estate investor, accused of preventing more than 200 properties from being sold to anyone but him by encumbering their title is now banned from using such practices in Florida.

The Florida attorney general’s office, which investigated and litigated the case, said Teal prevented owners from selling their properties in 28 Florida counties. The attorney general’s office plans to seek damages of up to $15,000 per property.

Teal, 63, is a US Citizen but is currently living in Thailand. It was from there that he conducted his real estate investing over the internet. He would find properties, put a sales contract on them, and then would file fraudulent affidavits against the property’s title so it could not be sold to anyone else. During this time he would find a buyer that he could assign the sales contract to at a higher price.

Using these techniques, Teal bought and sold hundreds of properties and made over $2 million in profits.