Attorney Doug Jeffrey of the Law Offices of Douglas J. Jeffrey in Miami Lakes. Courtesy photo

A Hialeah couple has been accused of running a fake house-flipping business through which they allegedly took more than $1.6 million from an investor and spent it on vacations and other personal purchases.

Vivian Rodriguez and Yovany Serna, who are married, were arrested and have been charged with 28 counts each of first-degree grand theft, first-degree organized fraud and third-degree money laundering, all felonies, according to a Nov. 19 arrest affidavit.

They also face a civil suit that makes similar claims as the criminal charges. According to the civil complaint and arrest affidavit, Rodriguez, 50, is a real estate agent who entered into a business venture with Paulino Aguilera, saying that he would buy distressed properties for cheap; then Serna, 49, would fix them; and then they would re-sell at a profit that they would all share. Instead, the majority of the about 30 deals were fake transactions that never took place, according to the affidavit. While the properties, mostly single-family homes in Miami-Dade County exist, it's said that they weren't even listed for sale.

Rodriguez and Serna declined to comment to a reporter in court Monday when they were to be arraigned. Their arraignment was postponed to Dec. 24.

Douglas Jeffrey, Aguilera's attorney, said his client invested more than $1.6 million with the defendants.

He said the problem started when Aguilera, who was seeking real estate investment opportunities, drove past a property listed for sale with a Trex International Realty Inc. sign in the yard.

When Aguilera called the Trex phone number, Rodriguez responded. This very first transaction was closed, leading to the business relationship between Aguilera and Rodriguez, said Jeffrey, of the Law Offices of Douglas J. Jeffrey in Miami Lakes.

While the arrest affidavit says two sales truly were closed and the lawsuit says one deal was closed, Jeffrey said both are referring to this very first deal except it's counted twice in the arrest affidavit, once for the property purchase and again when the property was sold.

The lawsuit goes further to allege that the scheme was run by Rodriguez and executed through a team that included not only Serna but also Rodriguez's son, Hotniel Crespo, and his wife, Marbelis Crespo.

The allegation in part is that Marbelis Crespo, who along with Rodriguez was a Trex real estate agent, and Hotniel Crespo, along with Serna met with Aguilera and in a way talked him into the investments. Marbelis Crespo touted her employment with Trex as a way to give her more credibility in the real estate investments realm, adding that she is “well-versed in the investments” and telling Aguilera the properties he was buying were suitable investments for him, according to the complaint. Separately, Hotniel Crespo allegedly kept telling Aguilera that Hotniel Crespo was making a lot of money by investing in similar properties as Aguilera. Serna's alleged part was telling Aguilera that Serna fixes the properties, according to the complaint.

All four are named defendants in the April 18 Miami-Dade Circuit Court amended complaint along with two companies allegedly used in the money wire transfers or to funnel Aguilera's money, Taino Property Support Corp. and C. Support Properties LLC. Trex International Realty also is a named defendant.

Attorney Jay Levy, who represents all of these defendants except for Trex, declined to comment.

Levy, founder of Law Offices of Jay M. Levy in Miami, in a July 26 motion to dismiss argued in part the counts levied against his clients fail to state a cause of action.

Rodriguez acted as a Trex real estate agent to work on the purported transactions, including meeting with Aguilera at her Trex office, using her Trex email account and Trex's website and promotional materials, according to the complaint.

Trex's attorney, Jesus Bujan, confirmed Rodriguez and Marbelis Crespo were real estate agents working as independent contractors for Trex — but he said Trex had nothing to do with the alleged fraud.

The real estate firm released Rodriguez and Crespo after the suit was filed and didn't know about the allegations until the complaint, Bujan said.

“We were alarmed at what had been going on. Trex International realty has a reputation of being in business for many years and these were just two rogue independent contractors. We had absolutely no indication that they were involved … in this sort of conduct,” said Bujan, partner at Bujan & Marichal Law Group in Miami. “Trex International Realty did not receive any commissions, any remuneration, any listing agreement, did not receive any contract, any deposits, no wire transfers, absolutely nothing. They had no connection with any of these phony transactions whatsoever.”

Aguilera first filed suit December 2017, at the same time when he started to get suspicious about his investments.

The amended complaint lists fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and negligent retention and supervision counts against Trex.

Circuit Judge William Thomas on Oct. 24 dismissed the fraud count against Trex but the other counts still are pending.

Jeffrey, Aguilera's attorney, further argued that not only was the affiliation with Trex used to help the scheme but also the plaintiff and defendants' common country of origin: Cuba.

“This is an affinity crime. It's very common for one type of people to prey on their own. My client was very comfortable doing business with Rodriguez because he just got that good warm feeling you get when you share the same culture,” Jeffrey said.

The alleged fraud took place between June 2016 and December 2017 with some of the defendants in part stringing Aguilera along by sometimes wiring him money equal to the amount he invested in a property plus a profit, Jeffrey said. But then they would tell him of another property for sale, prompting him to again invest.

“My client started to get suspicious after the amount had gotten so large and there were supposed closings, and he was supposed to get close to a million dollars from her,” Jeffrey said. “And then she started playing a disappearing act.”

Rodriguez was hospitalized and while there she kept texting Aguilera assuring him his investments would be returned, according to the complaint. She, along with Serna and the Crespos, also allegedly went on trips.

Jeffrey said he thinks her hospitalization was a sham and at least part of the family's vacations were paid for by Aguilera's funds.