Sonoma man accused of running Ponzi scheme

(KRON) — A Sonoma man was arrested Thursday and accused of running a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme that stripped some investors of their life savings.

Kenneth W. Mattson, 63, was indicted by a federal grand jury on wire fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice charges.

Mattson was the President of LeFever Mattson, a corporation based in Citrus Heights, Calif., that controlled several limited partnerships that owned and managed commercial and residential properties.

For more than a decade, Mattson allegedly solicited and obtained millions of dollars in investments for what he represented as legitimate and safe interests of limited partnerships that owned real estate, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Northern District of California.

Prosecutors said, although many of the partnerships were real entities, Mattson’s victims never had interests in those partnerships as “off-books investors.”

Most of his victims were nearing retirement or in retirement, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Acting United States Attorney Patrick D. Robbins said, “This indictment alleges that Kenneth Mattson defrauded hundreds of victims, many of whom entrusted him with retirement savings they could not afford to lose. He allegedly raised tens of millions of dollars by falsely claiming that investors would have legitimate stakes in real estate projects. Instead of delivering the investment returns he promised, Mr. Mattson is charged with cheating these investors out of their hard-earned money and, in many cases, out of their life savings.”

“Mr. Mattson will now be held to account on charges of perpetrating a scheme that he kept afloat only by using new investors’ money to pay obligations to earlier investors—a classic Ponzi scheme.”

Investigators said, from at least 2009 and continuing through 2024, Mattson solicited investments from off-books investors into Divi Divi Tree, LP, a LeFever Mattson-controlled partnership that owned an apartment complex. The investors were not listed as partners in the company’s official books and records.

“Although some investors received distribution payments from their ‘off-books’ investments, that money did not come from the rents of the partnership’s underlying property, as Mattson promised; instead, it came from loans, Mattson’s comingling of other assets, and from new investors, in the manner of a Ponzi scheme,” prosecutors wrote.

Investigators said Mattson’s alleged scheme reached beyond Divi Divi to other LeFever Mattson limited partnerships, including Heacock Park Apartments, LP, an entity that was formed to purchase another apartment complex.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani said, “The investigation in this case is ongoing. We encourage anyone who believes they may be a victim to come forward.  The FBI and our partners remain steadfast in our commitment to uncovering the truth and seeking justice for those affected.”