4 days after a listening to within the legal case of Ken Mattson, who has been accused by federal prosecutors of wire fraud, cash laundering and obstruction of justice, 13 of the traders he wronged had been discussing how their lives have been affected by their affiliation with the indicted Sonoma actual property funding advisor.
RELATED: Indicted Bay Space actual property mogul should surrender deed to East Bay home
Regardless of Mattson’s convincing guarantees of a retirement free from monetary fear, Santa Rosa resident Maria Crane noticed, she and her husband, Stephen, would have been higher off simply leaving their cash within the inventory market.
“We’d have been higher off leaving it in a sock drawer,” fellow investor Tom Mack quipped.
The laughter that overtook the room was like the discharge of a strain valve.
“You realize there’s been therapeutic,” Stephen Crane noticed a bit of later within the afternoon. “As a result of we snort.”
For the tons of of people that powered the funding enterprise of LeFever Mattson Inc. — the primary actual property funding entity, which finally encompassed round 200 actual property properties valued at an estimated $400 million — the previous 20 months have been a wearying montage of misplaced earnings, vanished retirement funds, bankruptcies, claims kinds and tightened belts.
However a small set of traders has discovered solace in an unlikely supply. They’ve turned to at least one one other.
Two years in the past, they had been strangers. Now they commerce texts regularly, creating one thing swish out of their despair.
These traders have quietly been assembly over Zoom, virtually each Saturday morning for a yr and a half, to hope collectively and supply mutual assist. And a few have gathered in individual a half-dozen occasions for potlucks — most not too long ago on Dec. 14, on the residence of Tom Mack and Edy Hayashi close to Fairfield.
The meetups have served as an antidote for the concern that has at occasions threatened to eat them.
Court docket paperwork filed in October by numerous authorized groups within the LeFever Mattson chapter case, together with these representing an unsecured collectors committee appointed to advocate for victims, steered traders would possibly in the end obtain 20-40% of what they put in, which for a lot of represented their foremost financial savings and retirement nest eggs.
Between them, the 13 folks assembled at Mack’s and Hayashi’s eating desk, based on a fast back-of-napkin accounting, had invested someplace round $20 million with LeFever Mattson and its numerous actual property entities.
-
From all components of Northern California, Buyers with LeFever Mattson, sure collectively by heartbreak, have discovered resilience in each other as they collect for prayer and a Christmas potluck Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)
1 of 2
From all components of Northern California, Buyers with LeFever Mattson, sure collectively by heartbreak, have discovered resilience in each other as they collect for prayer and a Christmas potluck Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)
The corporate’s traders started speaking in earnest in late Might 2024, when Maria Crane and San Diego resident Matt Treger organized a mass Zoom session for folks to swap data and techniques, at a time when hardly something was identified about LeFever Mattson’s unfolding demise. Dozens logged on.
That spawned an e-mail group that’s grown to greater than 250 members. It’s a key supply of data for these making an attempt to maintain up with the twists and turns of the courtroom circumstances. And in June 2024, not lengthy after Mattson’s home outdoors Sonoma was searched by the FBI, the prayer group fashioned.
Airline miles, restore payments, job searches
Since then, they’ve carpooled to courtroom hearings, celebrated anniversaries and the births of grandchildren, and mourned losses collectively.
“After we all began assembly each other, what stood out instantly was the caliber of the folks,” stated Jean Kelly, who lives in Inexperienced Valley. “These are good folks. Spiritual folks.”
Making the most of these trusting souls, Kelly stated, was like taking sweet from a child.
Prosecutors have accused Mattson of orchestrating “a basic Ponzi scheme,” allegedly bilking tons of of traders out of tens of tens of millions of {dollars} over a interval of not less than 15 years. Mattson has pleaded not responsible to all fees, and has steadfastly insisted in courtroom pleadings that he’s completed nothing mistaken.
However Maria Crane argued that LeFever Mattson traders had their “trusters” damaged once they realized of the alleged fraud. Mattson arrange secret financial institution accounts that, based on federal prosecutors, he used to divert cash for his private use.
“There was betrayal,” stated investor Stacie Baumgartner, who lives in Benicia. “As a result of he was a pal.”
The revelations of economic impropriety precipitated deep disgrace amongst traders, particularly for individuals who had launched family and friends members to Mattson. That embarrassment discouraged many victims from sharing their troubles with anybody outdoors their speedy circle.
The prayer group, Maria Crane stated, has turn out to be “a secure haven the place you’ll be able to grieve or course of data.”
On Dec. 14, company on the Fairfield gathering arrived to search out that Hayashi, a gifted and prolific crafter, had sculpted clay angels for everybody on the potluck, individualizing each bit with traits representing the recipient. Mack would then hearth the sculptures within the couple’s on-site kiln. One other attendee, SJ — she requested that solely her initials be used on this story — had sewn small Kleenex holders for everybody in a kaleidoscope of patterns.
The Mattson prayer group members have traded extra substantial presents, too.
They’ve donated airline miles, lined auto restore payments and helped with job searches. The primary time they met, at a home in Dixon, the hosts handed out playing cards as folks left. Every card contained a crisp $100 invoice.
“Wants typically come out as prayer requests,” Stephen Crane stated. “On this method, we turn out to be God’s reply to our personal prayers.”
Prayer group members helped SJ cowl two months of hire when issues obtained actually dangerous for her, she acknowledged. The San Leandro mother thinks she is perhaps the final one who invested in LeFever Mattson. Ken Mattson satisfied her to become involved in August 2024 — after the FBI raid, and after not less than 5 lawsuits had been filed towards the corporate.
SJ knew about a few of that, she stated, however her life was “a bit of bit upside-down” on the time. She had simply come off a tough divorce, and her husband had retained their home and most of their shared financial savings, based on SJ. She felt she may belief Mattson and LeFever as “fellow Christians.”
Now her 401(okay) account is locked due to the LeFever Mattson chapter, and the IRS is hounding her for penalties associated to kinds she didn’t even know she was obliged to file. So SJ has been making use of for jobs nonstop; she had three interviews scheduled for the week following the potluck. The group has been praying for her.
“I used to be terrified I’d be homeless,” SJ stated, trying across the desk. “You’ve all seen me trembling in concern. To listen to folks saying ‘You are able to do it’ and praying for you, it makes an enormous distinction. It’s the ability of encouragement.”
Prayers for Ken Mattson
Anybody who has suffered beneath the LeFever Mattson implosion is welcome, however this group is proudly, expressly Christian. That’s pure, contemplating Mattson discovered so many traders by church membership — at Creekside Group in San Leandro, First Covenant in Oakland and Parkway Group in Fairfield.
“In some sense, this was an affinity crime,” Stephen Crane stated. “So many individuals had been concerned in church buildings. And this (gathering) is type of a redemption in that.”
The group on the Mack-Hayashi residence held palms across the desk and muttered affirmations to a prayer led by the Cranes. And so they exchanged “Godwinks” — current blessings they interpret as proof of the creator’s love.
Essentially the most notable wink clearly belonged to Gail and Foster Hines, who reside in Lincoln, in Sacramento County. Foster, a veteran who has mobility points, will get round on a golf cart. It’s not supposed to depart their retirement neighborhood, however he tried a brand new route residence after a visit to the health club not too long ago, and wound up misplaced, driving the cart on public roads, in heavy fog. Foster wound up in Loomis, miles away.
Disaster was averted by a kindly, youthful neighbor who volunteered to retrieve the veteran — and by a better energy, Gail Hines believes.
“That is God,” she stated. “I don’t understand how he didn’t get killed.”
The group’s most tough prayer, Stephen Crane stated, is for Ken Mattson. They’re praying for a “coronary heart change,” just like the one tax collector Zacchaeus had after assembly Jesus within the city of Jericho.
Loads of the dialog that December afternoon was dedicated to the person who unwittingly introduced these folks collectively. However the Mattson discuss wasn’t restricted to good needs. The 13 traders traded gossip, recounted interactions with Mattson over time and mentioned future steps within the compensation course of.
They talked about how lengthy it took to sink in that Mattson might have defrauded them; in regards to the ankle bracelet he’s compelled to put on whereas awaiting trial; in regards to the efficiency of his legal protection legal professional, Randy Sue Pollock, on the earlier listening to; and the decide’s ruling that day, which shot down Mattson’s try to take away a home in Piedmont from his bail settlement.
A lot stays unresolved, and these traders nonetheless have moments of heavy fear. However additionally they have come to really feel empowered by the others within the group. They really feel a way of objective. And so they consider Mattson’s time is coming. When the traders discuss him now, you’ll be able to virtually detect a be aware of pity.
“Generally we joke, or we discuss in regards to the ache we’ve skilled,” Stephen Crane stated. “However there may be in the end justice. There will probably be a day when he has to face earlier than God and acknowledge what he’s completed.”
As Maria Crane, stated, “Ken robbed us of our cash. However he can’t rob our pleasure or our peace. And now we have now these relationships.”
What’s going to Mattson have, they marvel, when that is throughout?
You’ll be able to attain Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @Skinny_Post.
