CINCINNATI — A federal grand jury has indicted Vision & Beyond co-owners Stanislav Grinberg and Peter Gizunterman, as well as two other co-conspirators, on fraud charges.
Officials say Grinberg and Gizunterman, two Israeli real estate entrepreneurs, created Vision & Beyond in 2019 to purchase 100 properties — many of which were in the Cincinnati area. The two, with the help of title company employees Keya Hamilton and Kelly West, are accused of double-pledging the properties to obtain multiple loans.
They're also accused of falsifying financial documents, altering closing documents and removing mortgages from title commitments to conceal information from investors.
The WCPO 9 I-Team has continued to follow the fraud allegations that led to Vision & Beyond's collapse and the subsequent fight over the fate of their more than 70 properties.
We spoke with attorney Greg Berberich, who met the founders of Vision & Beyond in 2020 when the two were trying to buy a $2 million apartment building from one of his clients.
"They’re wearing $300 Nikes and driving $80,000 cars," Berberich said. "I thought, 'Who the heck are they?' As soon as I saw their paperwork, I thought, 'These guys are amateurs.'"
But just two years later, they were able to convince Wall Street bankers to loan them more than $36 million for approximately 60 multi-family properties they did not own. The loans were supposed to pay off 30 specific prior mortgages.
Watch our full I-Team investigation here:
According to officials, 20 of the prior mortgages that were worth $17.2 million were not paid off at closing. Instead, officials said more than $273,000 was paid directly to Hamilton, nearly $7 million was paid to a title company controlled by Hamilton and used by Vision and Beyond, around $6.2 million was paid directly to Vision & Beyond's account and approximately $2.7 million was paid to another bank.
"People have described this as a sophisticated fraud," Berberich said. "It’s really not, it’s just big. There are a lot of people and properties involved. But, if you can get a notary that’s willing to violate their oath and sign a fraudulent deed, you can sign (over) a property tomorrow."
Officials said Hamilton and West, who helped Vision & Beyond, are accused of participating in a similar scheme in 2023 involving apartment complexes in Lexington, getting loans totaling $24.6 million.
All four are charged with conspiring to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, making false statements and money laundering.
