Buckeye man ordered to pay over $200,000 to settle fix-and-flip real estate scheme

PHOENIX – A Buckeye man was ordered to pay over $200,000 as a settlement in a fix-and-flip real estate scheme, state regulators announced Thursday.

Michael Candelario and his affiliated companies were ordered to pay $199,110 in restitution and an additional $55,000 in administrative penalties, according to the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC).

Candelario was not licensed to offer and sell investments in the state. However, the ACC said he and his companies — REI Management LLC (formerly known as WLA Labs, LLC) and REI House Buyers, LLC — not only sold investments but advertised returns of up to 30% per quarter.

The Buckeye man also was accused of failing to inform investors of his past financial theft, the fact that he owed more than $1 million in civil judgments or of the federal tax liens against him.

He also allegedly created and distributed fraudulent deed of trust documents to at least one investor and did not tell investors some of his real estate investment properties were either in foreclosure or pending foreclosure.

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