By Ray Stern
Phoenix New Times
Mark Bosworth, a former Valley real-estate maverick who once boasted he owned $50 million in property, claims he was conned into trying to cash a bogus, $4,500 check.
The felony forgery charge he’s fighting could result in jail time. It’s an ignominious — though somewhat expected — turn of events for a man who once described himself as a real-estate “guru.”
Bosworth (not to be confused with Oregon bicyclist Mark Bosworth, who vanished mysteriously in September 2011) lived a lavish lifestyle in the mid-2000s, flipping houses by the dozen, making medium-scale commercial deals and running a busy property management company. He even wrote an “Investor’s Corner” column for The Arizona Republic’s real estate section. Then the real-estate crash brought his empire down, exposing his unethical practices. He declared bankruptcy in 2008 after being sued and ordered to pay a $17 million award to a former customer.
We wrote an in-depth article about Bosworth and his companies in our May 15, 2008 edition.
One of his former companies, a property management firm called gorenter.com, (managed by Bosworth relatives), is still in operation. His other companies, and his business Web site, have long been folded. Two of his former employees were ordered by the Arizona Corporation Commission to pay about $1 million each for alleged scams.
Also:
Ex-Tucsonan sentenced in Colorado real estate scheme/Arizona Daily Star
Old Mortgages Slow New Bank Lending/The Wall Street Journal
