California Man Faces 147 Felony Counts In Alleged Real Estate Investment/Ponzi Scheme; Parents, Friends Head List Of Victims Claiming Losses Of $5M+

In Santa Barbara, California, The Tribune reports:

• Hard money lender Mike L. Wilson, a Santa Maria mortgage business owner with many San Luis Obispo County clients and real estate investments, was arrested at his Santa Maria home [...] on 147 felony counts. Wilson, 55, was in Santa Barbara County Jail without bail on charges including grant theft, forgery, elder abuse by embezzlement, and fraud in selling securities.(1)

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• Wilson’s arrest follows at least seven lawsuits filed against the hard money lender in Santa Barbara Superior Court since the end of March. Those suits mirror the criminal complaint, alleging losses of more than $5 million that were supposed to go toward commercial and residential investments in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Monterey Counties.

• Most of those allegations include an alleged Ponzi scheme, in which Wilson is accused of taking money from investors, promising them that it would be invested in secured real estate, but instead using the money to pay off other investors as a way to keep the scheme going. Wilson also allegedly forged real estate documents, failed to record assignments of deeds of trusts, promised investors they were more secured with real estate deeds than they actually were, failed to tell investors their loans were in default or had been paid off, and preyed on seniors for financial gain, according to the suits.

For more, see Santa Maria hard money lender Mike Wilson arrested on fraud charges (He's set to be arraigned on 147 felony counts of embezzlement, elder abuse and other offenses).

Go here for the Santa Barbara DA press release.

(1) Among the 45 or so alleged victims named in the criminal complaint are Wilson’s parents, and friends who say they had known and trusted Wilson for many years.