Israeli-American businessman Michael Fein was extradited to the US from Israel Thursday on charges relating to a $28 million fraud scheme linked to investment properties in Missouri and Oklahoma, the US Justice Department announced in a press release.

According to the department, Fein, now 47, was indicted in 2020 on felony bank fraud and wire fraud charges for “routinely providing false information on loan applications” for the purchase of apartment complexes for his property management firm T.E.H. Management.

US authorities were able to recently locate Fein in Israel, the press release said, and Israeli authorities approved his extradition after a request was made to the Justice Ministry.

“I’m very pleased that Michael Fein will be returned to St. Louis to face trial on the accusations that he fraudulently obtained millions of dollars,” US Attorney Thomas C. Albus said Thursday.

Fein made his first appearance in a US District Court in St. Louis, Missouri, on Friday.

According to the indictment, between 2016 and 2019, “Fein falsely inflated the number of tenants” at a St. Louis-area property he was looking to buy, “to obtain a $2.8 million loan to purchase the complex.”

A former executive was extradited from Israel this week to face charges in St. Louis. Michael Fein, now 47, was indicted nearly 6 years ago........

© The Times of Israel