Center City Real Estate Agent Pleads Guilty to Charges Arising From Fraudulent Loan Scheme

PHILADELPHIA - United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Jonathan Barach, 46, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, entered a plea of guilty today before United States District Judge Mia Roberts Perez to one count of wire fraud and one count of making an illegal monetary transaction, in connection with a fraudulent loan scheme in which he raised millions of dollars from individuals and businesses, purportedly for short-term real estate financing opportunities, when no such projects existed.

As detailed in the information filed August 21, 2025, the defendant served as a licensed residential real estate agent and the co-founder and principal agent for The Barach Group, LLC, a Philadelphia-based real estate team, and formed a second company, TBG Real Estate, LLC, also based in the city. In addition to offering traditional real estate agent services, Barach used his companies to solicit and raise money for non-existent real estate financing opportunities.

Between July 2017 and April 2021, Barach raised over $3 million from lenders through a series of material misrepresentations, including by falsely stating the raised funds would be used to provide bridge loans to builders and contractors looking to purchase and flip distressed real estate properties or to complete renovation projects. At the time of these solicitations, no such projects existed, Barach's entities did not provide real estate financing, and Barach knew that the lenders' funds would be used for his own purposes and debts.

None of the money raised by Barach from his victims was used for the stated purpose. Instead, Barach typically withdrew the funds in cash, made assorted personal expenditures, transferred funds to his personal bank accounts, and moved large sums to various accounts that he held with casinos and sportsbook operations. Although Barach paid back some of his earlier lenders with a portion of the funding secured from later lenders, over $1.4 million of the fraudulently obtained loan proceeds remain unpaid.

The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced on February 2, 2026, and faces a maximum possible term of 30 years' imprisonment.

This case was investigated by the FDIC Office of Inspector General, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the FBI, with assistance from the U.S. Secret Service, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Terri Marinari and Samuel Dalke.