Man steals ownership of 78-year-old's yacht, leaves him homeless in CA, feds say

Miami Herald

13-05-2025

A Hawaii man offered to help a California resident sell his 44-foot yacht docked in Newport Beach — but secretly took ownership of the vessel and kept the proceeds of the sale, according to federal court filings.
Then, John Tamahere McCabe scammed the 78-year-old out of the deed to his million-dollar Orange County condo, federal prosecutors said.
The man's wife had just died and 'he had no family support' by the time McCabe defrauded him out of about $1,814,000 — leaving him homeless, court documents say.
The scheme to steal the man's assets began in July 2017 and lasted until January 2024, court records show. In December 2024, a federal grand jury charged McCabe with wire fraud.
Now, McCabe, 42, of Kailua, Hawaii, has pleaded guilty to the charge, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California said in a May 2 news release.
His defense attorneys, Eliot F. Krieger and Scott Arthur Simmons, didn't immediately return McClatchy News' request for comment May 5.
McCabe lived in Maui but frequented Orange County, California, when he defrauded the man of his Irvine condo, court documents say. The man was only identified as 'J.L.' in filings.
McCabe made 'false promises of brokering the sale' of the man's 2017 Tiara yacht, which cost more than $1 million, according to prosecutors.
While pretending to help the man, McCabe used fake documents to transfer the vessel's ownership to himself, prosecutors said.
With the yacht in McCabe's name, McCabe sold it and used most of the profits 'for his own personal purposes,' prosecutors wrote in court documents.
Then, at some point afterward, McCabe, 'appearing to act in the best interest of (the man), convinced (him) to transfer' his condo into an LLC McCabe controlled, court documents say. McCabe claimed that 'it would protect (the man's) most valuable asset and provide tax benefits,' prosecutors said.
But McCabe remained as the only manager of the LLC and drained the man's home of its equity by taking out $1 million in loans, according to prosecutors.
The proceeds were spent by McCabe and were secured by the man's condo, prosecutors said.
'(McCabe) defaulted on the loans,' then the man's condo was auctioned off at a foreclosure sale, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
After the man became homeless, prosecutors said the FBI and the Irvine Police Department investigated McCabe.
McCabe now faces up to 20 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. His sentencing hearing is set for Oct. 16.
The U.S. Attorney's Office encourages individuals 60 or older who've been affected by financial fraud to seek help by calling the Justice Department's National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-372-8311.