Someone Else's Dream House

"It appears that the magnitude of Mr. Taneja's fraud may be far in excess of the $33 million and may involve significantly more than the four lenders identified in last week's plea agreement," Lawrence E. Rifken, who represents the unsecured creditors in the bankruptcy case, said in a statement yesterday. Rifken also noted that the creditors were "surprised" to learn that prosecutors would recommend that Taneja serve only seven years of a maximum 20 years for the crime. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 30.

Members of the Indian community who admired Taneja also fell prey to his tactics, according to David Lamb, an attorney for four people who say they were duped by him. Lamb said he represents a convenience store owner who turned to Taneja to finance several mortgages. The family's credit was ruined when Taneja then used their history to obtain other phony mortgages and pocketed the money, Lamb said.

About noon, the auctioneer took the microphone, and bidding for Taneja's home began, starting at $2.8 million. The bidders had gathered in the basement party room around a black marble dance floor. Above their heads, a disco ball went around and around, throwing haunting bits of light on their faces. (Light fixtures to convey.)

After a period of brief excitement, Egyptian businessman Ali I. Hafez, 67, of McLean emerged the winner. Hafez, who runs an import-export business called King Tut Corp., bid $3.875 million, more than the county's assessed value of about $3 million. He plans to live there with his large family.

"I thought I'd get a bargain today, but I didn't," Hafez said.

The sale requires approval by the court in a hearing today. The Tanejas will live on the property until the December closing.

Afterward, Goyal, a journalist for the India Globe newspaper and Asia Today magazine, could not resist posing for a picture by the large fountain in the driveway, where carved elephants shoot streams of water out of their trunks.

"We are very sad," he said. "The Indian community is not like that. He is one bad apple among all the good fruits. . . . My mother always told me no one can be rich honestly. That is what happened to this man."