The owner of a home remodeling company, facing more than a dozen lawsuits, and his father are now facing criminal theft and organized crime charges after a grand jury indictment. According to arrest affidavits, Sean and Avi Schwalb face multiple counts of theft between $100,000 and $1 million, theft between $20,000 and $100,000 and theft between $5,000 and $20,000. They also face multiple charges related to the violation of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act.
Sean and Avi Schwalb are currently in custody, according to Denver County Jail records.The indictment is currently sealed. A witness list for the case consists of 67 names, including both victims and investigators. Over the past year, Denver7 Investigates has spoken to multiple victims of Schwalb Builders, including Kevin and Noelle Collins. The couple paid Schwalb Builders more than $250,000 for a remodel, only to be left with an unfinished job. The City of Denver issued a “stop work” order and an independent engineering report said the house was “unsafe to occupy” and noted that Schwalb Builders did not pull permits and was not licensed. The Collinses have spent the past year renting a home while also paying their mortgage on a house where they can’t live. Meanwhile, they said they were outraged by Sean Schwalb’s Instagram page that showed him living a lavish lifestyle, photographed with expensive cars and watches. Jason Kruger, a construction attorney representing the Collins family, said this was the worst case of fraud he had seen. He also drew a connection to Sean and Avi Schwalb’s companies, even though Avi has denied involvement in Schwalb Builders. “The father’s company assisted and coordinated with the fraud,” Krueger previously told Denver7 Investigates. Krueger’s process servers were able to serve both Avi and Sean Schwalb with the lawsuit, but he said only Avi has cooperated so fa