Federal authorities indicted Franklin Lakes, New Jersey resident Jennifer Iturralde Piña on July 3 for allegedly destroying a cell phone as agents tried to seize it — evidence linked to a federal investigation involving her husband, real estate investor Cesar Piña. Prosecutors also allege she conspired to stop a witness from testifying. The indictment follows a federal grand jury probe of Cesar Piña, known to his nearly 300,000 Instagram followers as @Flipping_NJ, who faces wire fraud, money laundering, and bribery charges filed in October 2023.
According to a July 10 press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of NJ, Piña now faces additional charges stemming from the same investigation. Federal prosecutors charged him with two counts of wire fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy, two counts of money laundering, and one count of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.
Piña first gained attention in the 2010s by hosting real estate seminars throughout the country, alongside his business partner – radio host and The Breakfast Club co-host DJ Envy (Raashaun Casey). The duo promised attendees insights on flipping properties and building wealth through real estate, a formula that fueled Pina’s rapid rise on social media. Casey is not facing criminal charges, but nearly ten parties claim he led them to believe Pina’s operations were above board.
By 2017, Piña started seeking outside investors, luring them in with bold promises – including a 30% return on investment within 5 months. According to prosecutors, his model was a classic Ponzi scheme – a fraudulent investment scam where returns are paid to earlier investors using the capital from newer ones, rather than legitimate business profits. Such schemes inevitably collapse when the influx of new investors slows.
“Cesar Piña is alleged to have misappropriated millions of dollars of peoples’ hard-earned money, laundered money for narcotics traffickers and bribed a politician in furtherance of real estate projects” said U.S. Attorney Alina Habba.
The charges stem from an investigation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a federal initiative aimed at dismantling large-scale criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, and corruption. The task force, which includes the FBI, IRS, DEA, Postal inspection service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office has increasingly focused on financial crimes linked to narcotics networks. Their probe reportedly uncovered a far broader web of illegal activity, including laundering drug money and bribing public officials.
One bribery charge accuses Piña of allegedly paying a city official in Paterson, NJ to push through approvals for one of his development projects – the conversion of a vacant public school. Listed on the indictment as “Individual 2,” the official was also employed as Piña’s realtor for certain real estate projects, receiving commissions from their sales as part of the bribery.
Piña leveraged his social media fame, flaunting professional partnerships with celebrities like Snoop Dogg (Calvin Cordozar Broadus) and 50 Cent (Curtis Jackson), and rubbing shoulders with local politicians. At one point, Jackson’s G-Unit Film & Television, under its deal with Lionsgate, was reportedly developing an unscripted television series featuring Piña – a project now in limbo.
As of July 14, arraignment dates for both Piña and his wife have not been announced, but his second indictment is unlikely to go unnoticed.
