South Side home-flipping plan was a fraud, SEC says

While operating companies with names such as G-Slow Real Estate Team and G-Slow Construction Services, George Slowinski was making a fast buck from unwitting foreign investors wanting profits from flipping homes on the South Side, federal authorities charged in a fraud case Wednesday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission accused Slowinski, 67, of illegally diverting to himself and partners at least 34% of $20.7 million raised in the alleged scheme. The suit said Slowinski had promised some 600 investors, mostly from Singapore and Malaysia, that they’d earn a 38% return and get their principal back in two years.

The fraud occurred in 2013 and 2014 when Slowinski was operating a company called Rebuilding America, the SEC said. It charged that he diverted $2.8 million in investor cash toward payroll and cost overruns on other projects. Slowinski routed that work through other companies under the G-Slow name, the SEC said.

Slowinski could not be reached and his attorney, Leon Zelechowski, did not immediately return a call.

The lawsuit said Slowinski lives in Texas but resided in Homer Glen while the fraud was committed. Rebuilding America did business from Frankfort. The state dissolved its corporate charter in 2017.

“This case serves as a reminder that if an investment sounds too good to be true, it most likely is,” said Joel Levin, director of the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago and seeks restitution and civil penalties.

While the case does not list defendants besides Slowinski, it alleges he received help from Project Kudos Group Limited, based in London, and Infinity Treasures Private Limited, a marketing firm in Singapore.

The suit said that in marketing materials, Slowinski described Rebuilding America as the “ultimate armchair investment” that promised a proven system for quickly profiting from foreclosed properties.