Victims Of Man's Quincy Real Estate Scam Will Split $880,000

QUINCY, MA — Nearly a million dollars was recovered from forfeited assets of a Quincy real estate agent who was actually a fugitive from New York living in Quincy under a fake name, the United States Attorney's Office said Thursday.

$884,755 was recovered from the forfeited assets of Scott J. Wolas to be returned and distributed to the victims of a real estate investment scam he ran, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

72-year-old Wolas was known to investors as Eugene Grathwohl, was arrested April 7, 2017, in Delray Beach, Florida after police said he raised $1.9 million from more than 24 investors as part of a bid to buy the Beachcomber across from Wollaston Beach.

Wolas was told to have promised to pay out investors at least 125% of the profits related to the single-family home construction, but when the closing day came on Sept. 15, 2016, Wolas was nowhere to be found after leaving town a week earlier.

Prior to his Florida arrest, Wolas used his real name as a lawyer in New York and was investigated for his connection in a $20 million fraud scheme. He went "missing" in 1997 and remained a fugitive for about 20 years.

Wolas was disbarred in 1999 and his firm reportedly settled a lawsuit with 20 investors for $6 million.

In January 2019, Wolas was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 81 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $1,949,813 in restitution to the victims of his fraud scheme.

Most of the $884,755 restitution money came from Wolas' retirement account from the firm he worked to prior to being indicted, which he tried to transfer to his ex-wife who he was still in contact with.

In 2018, his ex-wife pleaded guilty to lying to authorities by saying she had not had contact with Wolas for 15 years and was sentenced to a year of probation.

"My office will diligently pursue financial recovery for our crime victims — even years after someone has been convicted and sentenced, we will continue our pursuit," U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins said in a statement. "These ill-gotten gains have finally been recovered and our efforts send an important message that crime does not pay."

More on Beachcomber Scheme

• Man Charged In Beachcomber Redevelopment Scam Arrested In Florida
• Beachcomber Con Man's Ex-Wife Admits To Misleading Investigators
• Man Behind Beachcomber Redevelopment Scam Indicted In Federal Court
• Quincy Con Man Expected To Plead Guilty In Beachcomber Scam
• $1.9M Beachcomber Fraud Nets Man 7-Year Sentence