CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Neil O’Rourke, 40, of Apex, North Carolina was charged on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 in a federal bill of information filed in U.S. District Court in Charlotte with one count alleging conspiracy to commit violations of federal law including making a false statement and application in relation to a loan, mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud and securities fraud. O’Rourke has agreed to plead guilty to the charge pursuant to a plea agreement with the government, also filed on February 5, 2008. Neil O’Rourke appeared today, Wednesday, February 6, 2008, in U.S. District Court in Charlotte and formally entered his guilty plea before the court. A date has not yet been set for O’Rourke’s sentencing.

United States Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert is joined by Nathan T. Gray, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in North Carolina, and Charles Hunter, Special Agent in Charge for IRS Criminal Investigations, in making today’s announcement.

The charge against O’Rourke arises out of a conspiracy in which he participated and which took place from in or about 2002 through about May 2007 involving the purported “Village of Penland” project. The bill of information filed against Neil O’Rourke alleges that Peerless Real Estate Services was the lead entity among a network of numerous entities operating primarily in the Western District of North Carolina. According to the bill of information O’Rourke joined the conspiracy in 2004 and, at various times, O’Rourke held the titles of President and Vice-President of Peerless. The bill of information lists numerous activities which were part of the conspiracy that constitute both investment fraud and mortgage fraud. The bill of information charges among other things, that the investment fraud scheme was carried out in “Ponzi” scheme fashion, where new investor funds in “Village of Penland” were diverted to make mortgage payments for other investors. The bill of information charging Neil O’Rourke also alleges that the Peerless conspirators caused investors in the “Village of Penland” to obtain fraudulent mortgage loan proceeds to invest by making false and fraudulent representations in and omitting material facts from the loan packages and HUD-1 Settlement Statements associated with the mortgage loans.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and IRS Criminal Investigations are leading the investigation that resulted in the filing of the bill of information charging Neil O’Rourke with conspiracy. The government has also been assisted in this investigation by the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office, which filed a deceptive practices claim naming Anthony Porter, Frank

Amelung, Richard Amelung, J. Kevin Foster, Neil O’Rourke, Michael Yeomans, A. Greg Anderson, and several entities associated with the Peerless Group. The government is represented in this matter by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kurt Meyers and Senior Litigation Counsel David A. Brown of the U.S. Attorney’s Criminal Division in Charlotte.

Copies of the bill of information and the plea agreement are provided along with this press release. The United States will have no other comment on this case as it is part of an ongoing criminal investigation. The statutory maximum sentence Neil O’Rourke faces on one count of conspiracy to commit securities, mail, wire, and bank fraud is a $250,000 fine, five years imprisonment, or both, and up to three years supervised release.

NEIL O’ROURKE Age: 40 Apex, North Carolina