KOSCIUSKO — A California man is facing charges after allegedly defrauding a Kosciusko County couple. 

Carlo Hamrahi 46, with addresses listed as both 31974 Emerald Lane, Castic, Calif. and 900 S. Figueroa St. Apt. 511, Los Angeles, Calif., is being charged with corrupt business influence, a level 5 felony, and theft, a level 6 felony. 

On June 16, 2015, an officer with the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department met with a couple who reside in Kosciusko County. The wife advised that the bank is in the process of foreclosing on their home. According to the affidavit of probable cause, she stated she had contracted an attorney online, who referred them to an individual in Florida, Roberto Colleoni of Colleoni Enterprises, to help them avoid the foreclosure.

The couple claims to have signed a contract with Colleoni Enterprises in July 2014 and made payments totaling $6,500 to Colleoni Enterprises, stating their residence was still foreclosed. The wife said that approximately six weeks later she discovered that Colleoni Enterprises was a fraudulent company. 

According to the couple, the $6,500 was paid in nine payments with PNC Bank cashier’s checks. Law enforcement officers obtained copies of the cashed PNC Bank cashier’s checks and found they were cashed at a Wells Fargo Bank and endorsed by Hamrahi and/or a female. A subpoena was obtained for the Wells Fargo accounts of Hamrahi, the female and Colleoni Associates. Bank records indicate that Hamrahi is the controller of the Colleoni Associates account. 

The KCSD officer obtained a bank corruption workshop video provided to the Kosciusko couple by Colleoni Enterprises. The video shows a male subject who introduces himself as Roberto Colleoni, who is giving a workshop on corruption by banks. The officer then obtained a California driver’s license and driver’s license photograph of Hamrahi and positively identified him as the same subject who introduces himself as Roberto Colleoni in the workshop video. 

It was later discovered that Hamrahi was convicted of grand theft and identity theft and ordered to pay restitution to five victims in the Los Angeles Superior Court in California. Hamrahi was reportedly engaged in a scheme of soliciting money by assisting with loan modification and debt relief. Advance payments were then made to Hamrahi and he failed to perform the promised services. 

Hamrahi was booked at the Kosciusko County Jail Sept. 12, on a $10,250 surety and cash bond.