Aspire Homes owner admits to bogus home sales

"Promising more indictments to come, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Friday that Chico real estate developer Anthony "Tony" Symmes has agreed to stipulate to single counts each of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and money laundering.

Symmes, 59, of Paradise, admitted to conspiring with Garret Griffith Gililland III, 28, a former unlicensed Chico mortgage broker, to sell 62 houses in the Chico area to "straw buyers."

Gililland, in custody in Sacramento, has pleaded not guilty to 24 counts involving mail fraud, money laundering and cultivation of marijuana. Authorities consider him a major figure in a far-ranging $100 million dollar real estate fraud.

The case against both men has been under investigation for more than two years by the IRS, the FBI and the Butte County District Attorney's Office."