Retirement Home Operator In Ch. 11 & Facing Foreclosure Now Hit With SEC Charges; Accused Of Deception In Sale Of Partial Interests To 1300+ Investors

Reuters reports:

• U.S. regulators charged Sunwest Management and its former chief executive with securities fraud on Monday, alleging the retirement home operator lied to investors and eventually operated the business as a kind of Ponzi scheme. The Securities and Exchange Commission accused Oregon-based Sunwest, which operates more than 200 U.S. retirement homes, and former CEO Jon Harder of concealing the risks of investments and exposing investors to "massive losses."

***

• "By June 2008, they operated Sunwest virtually as a Ponzi scheme," the lawsuit said, adding that money raised in the final offerings was used to pay old investors their 10 percent return. By January 2009, more than 100 Sunwest retirement homes were placed in foreclosure, receivership or bankruptcy, the SEC said.

For more, see SEC charges Sunwest Management with fraud.

From the Securities and Exchange Commission:

• Press release: SEC Charges Operators of Multi-Billion Dollar Real Estate Enterprise With Fraud,
• Lawsuit: SEC v. Sunwest Management Inc.

Go here for other posts on nursing home operator Sunwest Management.