Federal prosecutors charged a 31-year-old Twin Cities man this week with operating a bogus property rehabilitation business.

According to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in Minneapolis, Jesse Wells Haug defrauded investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by telling them that he was using their money to buy and renovate properties across the Twin Cities — from Minnetonka to Apple Valley — when he was in fact using the money for himself and his wife.

One of Haug's employees complained to police that Haug even tried to fraudulently sell his house as part of his scheme, and that the same thing happened with an Apple Valley townhouse that Haug didn't actually own.

In addition, a former business partner of Haug's won a $552,000 judgment against him in a Dakota County lawsuit that accused Haug and his company, 7-10 Services, of purloining more than $400,000 money from their two businesses — MJ Homes and Next Level Sports, which provided training for youth hockey ­players.

KELLY SMITH