April 10, 2026
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Philadelphia real estate agent Jonathan Barach, 47, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for a fraud scheme that took more than $3 million from investors to finance non-existent projects. Barach spent the money on personal expenses. Above, the James A. Byrne U.S. Courthouse for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
A Center City real estate agent who defrauded investors of $3.1 million, using the money to gamble on sports and pay for luxury items, was sentenced Wednesday to more than three years in prison and ordered to pay restitution.
Jonathan Barach, 47, pleaded guilty in September to charges that he solicited loans for real estate projects that didn't exist. His two companies, the Barach Group and TBG real estate, collected money from 19 people and businesses under the pretense of financing renovation projects and preparing distressed homes to be flipped at a profit, prosecutors said.
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The scheme unfolded between July 2017 and April 2021. Barach misled his investors, saying their money would cover short-term bridge loans for builders and contractors to finish projects that he knew were not real, prosecutors said. None of the money was invested in real estate.
Barach, who also offered traditional real estate services, transferred the investors' money into his personal bank accounts and withdrew large sums of cash. He bought a 4.7 carat diamond ring for more than $46,000, Louis Vuitton clothing and expensive seats to sporting events, investigators said. He also bet thousands of dollars at casinos and sports books, sometimes making six-figure deposits.
Many of Barach's lenders were people he knew personally who had taken money from their retirement accounts, children's education funds and life savings, prosecutors said. Barach often used money from new investors to pay off his debts incrementally. When he was charged with fraud and other offenses in August, Barach still owed about $1.5 million in fraudulently obtained loans.
Barach pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of making an illegal monetary transaction. In addition to paying the remainder of his debt as restitution to his lenders, Barach was order to pay a forfeiture judgment of another $1.49 million along with a $200 special assessment.
