PORTLAND, Ore. — Two owners of a Portland-based real estate investment company were sentenced to federal prison Wednesday for orchestrating a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme that targeted both individual investors and commercial lenders.
Robert D. Christensen, 56, received a sentence of 63 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. His co-defendant, Anthony M. Matic, also 56, was sentenced to 33 months in prison and three years of supervised release.
According to court documents, between January 2019 and June 2023, Christensen and Matic solicited funds from investors by claiming the money would be used to purchase and renovate undervalued residential properties. They told investors the properties would be rented for income and later refinanced to generate additional returns.
Prosecutors said the pair promised investors full repayment of their principal along with interest rates ranging from 8% to 15%, and in some cases, large lump-sum payouts within as little as 30 to 90 days.
Instead, Christensen and Matic used funds from new investors to pay earlier investors in a scheme resembling a Ponzi operation, authorities said. When new investments slowed, the pair turned to commercial lenders, submitting loan applications containing false financial information to secure millions of dollars in additional funding.
In total, the scheme defrauded individual investors of more than $10 million and commercial lenders of over $7 million, bringing the total losses to approximately $17 million.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and IRS Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Trisotto.
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