Disbarred Red Bank Attorney Charged with Real Estate Fraud

A former Red Bank lawyer was arrested Wednesday after an investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office revealed he committed real estate fraud by manufacturing a phony home sale and then loading the property up with debt to the tune of $1 million, according to a release.

Alexander Iler, a Red Bank lawyer who operated a law office on Broad Street before being disbarred this past July, was charged with second-degree theft for allegedly fraudulently converting the ownership of a Middletown property to his own name. The 38-year-old Middletown resident assumed ownership of the property by recording a deed at the Monmouth County Clerk's Office, which contained a forged signature of the purported seller, according to officials. 

No sale of the property had taken place.

The fraudulent deed reflected the transfer of the property from the seller to Iler for $575,000 in December 2011. Following the phony purchase, the prosecutor's office said, Iler encumbered the real estate with multiple mortgages totalling approximately $1 million.

Iler was arrested and remanded to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in lieu of $250,000 bail, with no 10 percent option. If convicted, Iler faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

According to his business profile, Iler, a criminal attorney, specialized in traffic violations and Internet crimes, among others.