KESSLER INVESTIGATION REVEALS CORRUPTION
IN NEW YORK REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY

NEW YORK, NY… February 3, 2006...

A $3.5 million lawsuit initiated by one of the largest title companies in the nation has alleged that an employee of one of its agents embezzled funds from 47 separate real estate closings in New York City and Long Island, leaving new homeowners to suffer the cost.  The suit follows an intensive, 2-month investigation conducted by Kessler International, a forensic accounting and corporate investigation firm based in New York.  

In the suit filed yesterday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Ticor Title Insurance Co. of Florida contends that Eric M. Koppelman and Irshad A. Ramzan, as well as a number of companies tied to Ramzan, operated a scheme that pilfered money held in escrow for homeowners, money that would normally be utilized to pay off mortgages and property taxes.  In addition, the suit alleges that Koppelman did not record new mortgages, meaning new homeowners would not officially appear as the current owners.  

Koppelman was the director of operations for Aegis America, another victim of the scheme.  The principal of Aegis, Mark E. Korn, commissioned the Kessler investigation and informed law enforcement and Ticor of Koppelman's scam in October 2005, leading to the original complaint filed in November.  

Since then, a rigorous investigation conducted by Kessler International has produced evidence of millions of dollars in fraudulently dispersed funds and an underworld network of shady dealing and corruption in the New York real estate industry.  

Ramzan, also named as a defendant in the action and identified as the principal of various implicated corporations, is alleged to have participated in the scheme.  

For more information about Kessler International, please call (212) 286-9100 or visit the company website at www.investigation.com.

ADDENDUM
STATEMENT FROM MARK E. KORN, PRINCIPAL OF AEGIS AMERICA LLC

In light of the lawsuit filed by Ticor Title Insurance Company against Eric Koppelman, Irshad Ramzan and others, I would like to clear the air regarding my involvement in this case.

As the principal of Aegis America, I too have been victimized by the actions of Mr. Koppelman, to whom I had previously entrusted many of the operations of Aegis. His decision to take advantage of homeowners, banks and Ticor has not only harmed those entities, but Aegis and myself as well.

When it was discovered that Mr. Koppelman was perpetrating his scheme, I immediately notified the U.S. Attorney's office and the United States Postal Inspectors, and commissioned Kessler International, a Manhattan-based forensic accounting and investigation firm, to conduct an examination of this episode. Kessler's inquiry, which is ongoing, has disclosed a web of underworld networks committing real estate frauds that has devastated the lives of many innocent homeowners.

I would also like to say that I truly sympathize with the numerous victims of this appalling plot. I have personally suffered irreparable damage to my reputation, and the name of my company has been soiled forever due to the egregious actions of Mr. Koppelman and his accomplices.

Finally, I must categorically deny any involvement in Mr. Koppelman's and his accomplices’ plot. It should be evident by my actions, and the fact that my name and business have both suffered tremendous damage, that I have played absolutely no part in this deplorable act.