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The former owner of a real estate company was sentenced earlier this week in connection with a scheme to steal more than $580,000 by targeting homeowners facing foreclosure.

Kevin Taing, age 53, of Lowell, was found guilty on Jan. 31 on six counts of larceny by false pretenses and five counts of larceny by embezzlement. Earlier this week, he was sentenced to serve three years in state prison, which will run concurrently with a probationary term of seven years. Taing will have to pay restitution of $580,710 and will be prohibited from any work in which he has fiduciary responsibilities. Taing is also prohibited from obtaining or renewing a real estate broker or salesperson license.

“Taing deliberately targeted vulnerable individuals who were facing foreclosure and struggling to find help,” Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement. “He has been sentenced to state prison for these very serious crimes.”

Taing was a licensed real estate broker and principal of Eastern Funding & Investment Inc.. Taing, who is of Cambodian descent and speaks Khmer fluently, targeted 10 homeowners from Lowell, Lynn, Lawrence, Attleboro, and Chicopee, most of Cambodian descent, facing foreclosure, to make payments to his company rather than the actual holder of their mortgage loans, prosecutors said. Taing led these families to believe that by paying Eastern Funding they would reduce their monthly payments, stay in their homes or otherwise resolve their mortgage issues.

He sent these homeowners mortgage statements, but never forwarded any of the payments to the holders of the mortgage loans. Taing also converted the money paid to his company to his personal use, using the funds to pay for personal expenses, credit card bills, restaurant and retail expenses, and to support a property near Huntington Beach, California.

The Attorney General’s Office began an investigation into this case late 2014 after a referral from a non-profit legal services agency and Taing was originally indicted in November 2016.