LOS ANGELES: A son of the mayor of Mina, Iloilo, has been added to the FBI’s Most Wanted Fraudsters list over an alleged scheme that authorities say defrauded about 2,000 investors of more than US$650 million.
Rey E. Grabato II is the son and namesake of Mina Mayor Rey P. Grabato. His mother, Lydia Encarnacion Grabato, has also served as mayor of the Iloilo municipality.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to US$150,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Grabato II, former president and majority owner of National Realty Investment Advisors LLC, or NRIA.
Grabato is wanted on federal securities and wire fraud charges, and conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with taxes.
Grabato is accused of participating in a scheme that defrauded about 2,000 investors, including hundreds in New Jersey, between February 2018 and January 2022.
Federal prosecutors have described the operation as a US$650 million Ponzi scheme. Grabato and Thomas Nicholas Salzano allegedly used false and misleading representations to persuade people to invest in the NRIA Partners Portfolio Fund I LLC, a real estate fund operated by NRIA.
Prosecutors said the company conducted an aggressive nationwide marketing campaign involving thousands of emails as well as television, radio and billboard advertising and investor presentations.
Investors were allegedly led to believe NRIA was financially sound and generated significant profits. Prosecutors said the company instead generated little to no profit and relied on money from new investors to make payments to earlier investors.
Grabato and his alleged co-conspirators are also accused of misappropriating millions of dollars in investor funds.
Separate tax scheme
Grabato is also accused of participating in a separate scheme to obstruct the Internal Revenue Service’s efforts to collect about US$26 million in outstanding tax liabilities owed to the US government.
The alleged tax scheme ran from November 2007 to August 2022, according to the FBI.
A federal arrest warrant was issued for Grabato on Oct. 12, 2022, after he was charged in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark.
The indictment identified Grabato at the time as being from Hoboken, New Jersey, and the Philippines. He remained at large following the charges, while Salzano was arrested in October 2022.
Grabato has also used the names Rey Encarnacion Grabato II, Rey Grabato II and Rey Li Encarnacion Grabato, according to the FBI.
Other Filipinos on the list
Grabato joins other people with Filipino ties on the FBI’s Most Wanted Fraudsters list, which the bureau launched in June 2026 to highlight fugitives accused or convicted of major fraud offences.
Among them is Michael Lizaso Marasigan, a Filipino and US dual citizen with ties to Guam and the Philippines.
Marasigan was convicted in May 2025 on charges involving illegal gambling, money laundering and wire fraud.
Also on the list are husband and wife John Michael Dimitrion and Julieanne Baldueza Dimitrion, who pleaded guilty in 2009 to running a mortgage fraud scheme in Hawaii. They failed to appear for sentencing in July 2010 and remain fugitives, according to the FBI.
The FBI created its Most Wanted Fraudsters list in June as part of an increased focus on locating high-profile fraud fugitives.
Anyone with information about Grabato is asked to contact a local FBI office or the nearest US embassy or consulate. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
