After being found guilty on three charges of fraud in June, a Florida real estate attorney has been handed a prison sentence in the Southern District of Florida.

A federal jury in West Palm Beach found Vero Beach lawyer Eric B. Granitur guilty on two counts of making a false statement to a federally insured institution in addition to taking part in a conspiracy to pass off said statements as legitimate.

South Florida Jury Convicts Lawyer of Making False Statements in Real Estate Paperwork

On Aug. 28 Granitur was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg to slightly more than a year in prison as well as a half-decade of supervised release. Rosenberg also sentenced George Heaton and Stephen McKenzie, Granitur's accused co-conspirators, to prison. Unlike Granitur however, both Heaton and McKenzie pleaded guilty to the charges against them and were handed lesser sentences. McKenzie will be serving four months in prison followed by supervised release, and Heaton will serve a slightly longer prison sentence of six months in addition to being on supervised release for three years and forfeiting approximately $236,000.

The charges against the three men stem from their time working together on the sale of Vero Beach Hotel & Spa condominiums in 2008 and 2009. According to the federal indictment against Granitur, in his role as the owner and operator of Live Oak Title, oversaw the closing of two condominium sales to McKenzie in 2009.

McKenzie and Heaton, the seller and developer of the hotel, had previously worked out a deal with incentives in order to finalize the purchase. Prosecutors allege that as the attorney overseeing the sales, Granitur failed to disclose the existence of these customer incentives — such as cash rebates — on forms submitted to lenders. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's office, “as an escrow agent, Granitur was required to truthfully and accurately prepare and distribute a settlement statement to the financial institutions,” but instead “failed to truthfully disclose seller credits and incentives.”

Benedict Kuehne. Courtesy photo

According to his profile on the Florida Bar website, Granitur was admitted to practice law in the state in November 1986 after obtaining his J.D. from Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law. As of publication, the site does not make mention of any other disciplinary issues with Granitur.

In a statement to the Daily Business Review Granitur's attorney Benedict P. Kuehne said that his client “respects the thoughtful decision of Judge Rosenberg to impose a greatly reduced sentence from that sought by the government.” Kuehne, who represented Granitur along with his Kuehne Davis Law colleague Michael T. Davis, added that Granitur is “evaluating further review of the verdict.”

Granitur “was neither an architect nor a decision-maker in the scheme, but was used by the principals to close two real estate transactions that were based on the schemers' undisclosed agreements,” Kuehne said. “He would never have been involved in the closings if he had known they were part of a fraud of which he was unaware.”

The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment on Granitur's sentencing.

Read the charging document against Eric Granitur: