Homestore executive sentenced

Peter Tafeen, a former vice president of business development at Homestore.com Inc., was sentenced Monday to two years in prison for his role in a fraud at the provider of Internet home listings.

Tafeen, 37, pleaded guilty in March to securities fraud. He was sentenced in Los Angeles federal court, said his lawyer, Brian Hennigan. At his plea hearing, the former executive admitted orchestrating so-called round-trip advertisement sales at the company to artificially boost revenue. He faced as many as 10 years in prison.

Tafeen was the 10th former Homestore executive to plead guilty in connection with the accounting fraud at the company, now named Move Inc. and based in Westlake Village.

Homestore’s shares plunged when the transactions were made public in 2002, costing investors as much as $100 million.

Stuart Wolff, the company’s former chief executive, was sentenced last month to 15 years in prison for his role in the fraud.

In the first three quarters of 2001, Homestore used intermediary vendors to pay companies, including America Online Inc. and Cendant Corp., to buy advertising on its website.