MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — A southern Oregon man convicted of fraud and racketeering in a real estate development scheme in the Medford area has been ordered to pay more than $250,000 in restitution to investors.
The Mail Tribune reports a judge ruled Thursday that 80-year-old James Nistler must pay five victims of the scheme.
Nistler was a high-ranking official with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the late 1980s and claims to have built more than 800 homes in Jackson County.
A prosecutor said Nistler took $1.2 million from investors to build houses in the scheme, but spent less than $400,000 on the project.
