Key Takeaways
- • The SEC and the Justice Department charged Mark Hanf, founder of Pacific Private Money Group LLC, and Hoai-Nam Chu Phan, former chief operating officer at a subsidiary, with running a Ponzi-like scheme that defrauded around 190 investors, many of them retirees.
- • The alleged misrepresentations concerned real estate investments, with investors told their funds would originate and purchase real estate-secured loans, according to federal enforcers.
- • The alleged conduct spanned roughly December 2021 to November 2025, per the charges announced Tuesday, September 2, 2026.
- • The case highlights enforcement risk for private fund managers marketing real estate-backed strategies to individual and retiree investors.
Summary
Federal securities enforcers have charged two California investment fund executives with running a Ponzi-like scheme that defrauded around 190 investors, including many retirees, according to Bloomberg Law. The charges were announced Tuesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department.
The SEC and Justice Department named Mark Hanf, founder of Pacific Private Money Group LLC, and Hoai-Nam Chu Phan, who served as chief operating officer at a subsidiary of the firm. Regulators allege the two made material misrepresentations to investors about how their money would be used.
According to the charges, from about December 2021 to November 2025 the executives told investors their funds would originate and purchase real estate-secured loans. The regulators characterized the arrangement as Ponzi-like, meaning returns to earlier investors allegedly depended on capital raised from later investors rather than underlying real estate activity.
The matter is a reminder of the scrutiny private real estate credit vehicles face when marketed to non-institutional investors, particularly where offering materials describe specific collateral and where investor bases skew toward retirees. The primary source article is truncated, so further details on fund sizes, asset recovery, or court proceedings are not available in this summary.
The SEC and Justice Department named Mark Hanf, founder of Pacific Private Money Group LLC, and Hoai-Nam Chu Phan, who served as chief operating officer at a subsidiary of the firm. Regulators allege the two made material misrepresentations to investors about how their money would be used.
According to the charges, from about December 2021 to November 2025 the executives told investors their funds would originate and purchase real estate-secured loans. The regulators characterized the arrangement as Ponzi-like, meaning returns to earlier investors allegedly depended on capital raised from later investors rather than underlying real estate activity.
The matter is a reminder of the scrutiny private real estate credit vehicles face when marketed to non-institutional investors, particularly where offering materials describe specific collateral and where investor bases skew toward retirees. The primary source article is truncated, so further details on fund sizes, asset recovery, or court proceedings are not available in this summary.
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