SEC Files Suit Against 3 In Alleged Scam That Sucked $11M From 75 Investors; Left Lenders With $120M In Bad Loans, 100+ Foreclosed Homes

In Murrieta, California, the North County Times reports:

• A federal agency alleged Wednesday that three Murrieta-area men sucked $11 million from 75 amateur investors they recruited through networks of church friends and military comrades and then left a trail of more than 100 foreclosed houses in their wake. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Riverside by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, seeks a federal court order barring James Duncan, Hendrix Montecastro and Maurice McLeod from continuing to offer the sort of investments that it alleges to be fraud.

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• The securities commission Wednesday also demanded in the complaint that the three men repay an unspecified sum to their investors and potentially to lenders, who were left holding $120 million in bad mortgages. Some of Murrieta's most upscale neighborhoods, including Bear Creek, Copper Canyon and Greer Ranch, are dotted with foreclosed homes that the three men and their clients bought and later abandoned.

For more, see Feds take action against real estate group.

See also The Press Enterprise: SEC sues Pacific Wealth Management; investors welcome action against Murrieta group.

For SEC news release, see SEC Charges Three Promoters for Victimizing Military Families in Real Estate Investment Scheme.