KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The owner and vice president of TEH Management has been indicted on felony fraud charges.
Michael Fein faces two charges – wire fraud and bank fraud — in connection to bank loans made to TEH Realty, a company which operates apartment complexes in Kansas City and St. Louis, among other places.
Fein is accused of submitting falsified documents to lenders in order to purchase or refinance properties in Kansas City, St. Louis and Tulsa, according to the U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen of the Eastern District of Missouri.
The falsified documents showed inflated numbers in several fields, including rent rolls, occupancy rates, income statements and more.
In Kansas City, Fein applied for and received a $12.5 million refinance loan for the Green Village apartment complex located near East 21st Street and Topping Avenue.
The deal closed in February 2017, according to the Department of Justice, and in addition to paying off the outstanding loan on Green Village, TEH received more than $6 million at the time of closing.
Fein allegedly made similar deals on the St. Louis and Tulsa properties, obtaining more than $28 million total in loans using the falsified documents.
41 Action News has reported on poor living conditions and other problems at TEH Realty properties.
Tenants said they were left without utilities, such as air conditioning during a heat wave and gas shutoffs on short notice, and reported slow response times to their issues from TEH.
The living conditions prompted the Housing Authority of Kansas City to pull TEH’s eligibility for its clients in addition to investigations from state and federal authorities.
“Today’s indictment alleges the owner of T.E.H. Management and affiliated companies defrauded several financial institutions, illegally enriching himself even as he provided substandard living conditions for his low-income tenants,” said U.S. Attorney Tim Garrison, of the Western District of Missouri.
Senator Josh Hawley, who was one of those to call for an investigation into TEH, said he is happy about the indictment and hope it results in legislative action.
"I am delighted at this result for those Missourians who have suffered, and I again call on my colleagues in the Senate to take up and pass my bill creating a bad-landlord database to hold these slumlords accountable," Hawley wrote in a tweet.
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