14-Nov-16 – A property manager working for a condominium association in the Edgewater neighborhood north of the Loop is accused of not just over-billing but helping himself to reserve funds.

Without identifying the victim, the United States Department of Justice has charged Alan Gold, the 65-year-old owner and operator of A.P. Gold Realty & Management Inc., with mail fraud.

The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court on November 2, accuses Gold of “fraudulently pocketing more than $150,000 in illegal fees” from the condo association and says he “skimmed from the association’s reserve account.”

With access to bank accounts, Gold paid himself his $650 monthly management fee multiple times during the same month, according to the complaint, then wrote bigger checks to himself. Between 2010 and 2014, it added up to $154,271.

He did this to other condo associations, says the government, and concealed the fraud by sending statements to his clients that showed their bank balances higher than what they were. The statements were sent by U.S. Mail, resulting in the mail fraud charge.

When one treasurer of a condo association asked Gold by email for a balance, Gold allegedly wrote back that the balance was $93,858 when it was actually $44,764.

According to its defunct website, Gold Realty manages “well over 600 units in more than 50 buildings on Chicago’s north side” and is located at 1357 West Augusta Boulevard northwest of the Loop.

Gold was arrested on November 9 and after appearing before a Magistrate Judge, released on his own recognizance.

Yelp reviews of Gold are scathing

Many of Gold’s Yelp reviews, by condo unit owners and renters, are negative.

“You’re better off seeking management services from Bernie Madoff,” writes a reviewer in Carrollton, Texas. “AP Gold has ‘managed’ our 100+ condo building for over 10 years. We’ve recently discovered during that time our accounts had close to $150,000 missing from them.”

The reviewer says his condo board checked its accounts and “found inadequate internal controls, poor (if any) ledger keeping, and countless errors” but when confronted, Gold repaid the money within a few weeks. Fearing further losses, the condo association closed its bank accounts and hired a new management company.

According to a reviewer in Chicago, Gold made what he said was an “accounting error” that caused $40,000 to go missing from an association’s reserve funds but those funds were returned, as well.

Writes a reviewer in Northbrook, Illinois, “If you would like a condominium manager who does not do his job and does not care about the law or truth then by all means consider this one.”