Two executives from a now-shuttered California-based real estate investment and finance group have been charged with operating a $103 million Ponzi-style fraud scheme.
Mark Hanf was the founder and CEO of Pacific Private Money and Nam Phan was the company’s chief operating officer. According to the charges brought against them, the duo allegedly engaged in a multi-year conspiracy that defrauded Pacific Private Money investors by making false statements about the enterprise’s financial condition to induce investment into the enterprise’s funds.
Hanf and Phan were alleged aware as early as 2021 that a number of Pacific Private Money’s largest projects were losing money and value. While that situation put Pacific Private Money’s overall financial condition at risk, Hanf and Phan continued to solicit investors without disclosing the problems.
Starting in December 2021, Hanf and Phan moved money between Pacific Private Money investment funds to keep them afloat and used new investor funds to pay distributions and redemptions to previous investors. The duo raised approximately $103 million from over 175 investors between approximately December 2021 and December 2025 as part of this scheme.
Hanf also allegedly transferred funds from the Pacific Private Money enterprise to another entity that he controlled to pay for his own personal expenses, such as credit card bills and home mortgage payments.
In June 2026, the Pacific Private Money entities filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Northern District of California.
Hanf and Phan were charged with wire fraud conspiracy, and Hanf was also charged with money laundering.
“These charges brought soon after the collapse of Pacific Private Money reflect this Office’s unwavering commitment to protecting investors in the Bay Area from fraud,” said US Attorney Craig H. Missakian. “As alleged, these defendants falsely assured investors that Pacific Private Money was successful and profitable, knowing that continued losses had turned it into a Ponzi scheme. The Office will continue to pursue fraud in private markets and aggressively prosecute them to protect the public.”
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