Second man pleads guilty in $18M Oregon real estate fraud case

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The co-owner of a local real estate investment company pleaded guilty on Thursday for his role in an $18 million fraud scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon announced.

The owner, 55-year-old Robert Christensen of Sherwood, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.

Christensen was joined in the scheme by the company’s co-owner 55-year-old Anthony Matic of Damascus, who pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit wire fraud charges, officials said.

According to court documents, the scheme occurred from January 2019 through June 2023, when Christensen and Matic convinced investors to fund the purchase and renovation of undervalued residential real estate properties.

After the renovations, the men claimed they would rent out the properties then refinance them. However, the pair further misled investors into believing they would be repaid their full investment with interest as high as eight to 15%, officials said, noting the pair also promised a large lump sum payout to investors all within 30-90 days.

The scheme failed to meet the promised returns “almost immediately,” and the two started using new investments to repay earlier investors to stay afloat, officials said.

Christensen and Matic were unable to generate funds from new investors, so the two developed another scheme to defraud commercial lenders, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon said, adding in December 2020, they submitted loan applications with false financial information to different lenders and received millions of dollars in loans.

Overall, officials said the pair defrauded individual investors out of more than $11 million and defrauded commercial lenders out of more than $7 million.

Conspiracy to commit wire fraud is punishable by a maximum of 20 years in federal prison with three years’ supervised release while money laundering charges are punishable by up to 10 years in prison with three years’ supervised release.

Officials note those charges can also lead to fines of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gains or losses resulting from the offense. 

Christensen and Matic will be sentenced in October 2025.