SEC Charges Two Bay Area Fund Executives Over $80M Ponzi-Like Scheme
The SEC charged two former Pacific Private Money Group executives with running a Ponzi-like scheme that raised over $80 million from roughly 190 mostly retired investors, with recoverable assets now estimated below $17 million.
The Securities and Exchange Commission on September 1 charged Mark D. Hanf, former CEO of Novato, California-based Pacific Private Money Group LLC (PPMG), and Hoai-Nam Chu Phan — also known as Nam Phan, the former COO of a PPMG subsidiary — with running an offering fraud that raised more than $80 million from about 190 investors, "many of whom were retired senior citizens," according to the SEC's press release.
Note upfront: these are allegations. Both men settled the civil charges without admitting or denying the SEC's claims, and criminal charges are separate and unproven.
Per the SEC's complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Hanf and Phan told investors in two PPMG private funds — from roughly December 2021 to November 2025 — that their capital would originate or purchase loans secured by real estate, and that they could expect preferred or fixed returns from that lending. Instead, the SEC alleges, the pair "regularly used new investor capital to make Ponzi-like payments to prior investors," and the returns they touted came "largely from new investor money rather than from any fund earnings." The complaint further alleges Hanf misappropriated more than $7 million for his own benefit.
The SEC says the scheme unraveled in the fall of 2025 as investors demanded their money back and the funds couldn't cover the requests. "Despite total outstanding investments in the two private funds of almost $121 million, by February 2026 the total recoverable assets of those funds were estimated to be less than $17 million," said Jason Lee, Associate Director of the SEC's San Francisco Regional Office. "That amounts to devastating losses for so many investors."
Key facts
- Charged: Mark D. Hanf (ex-CEO, PPMG) and Hoai-Nam Chu "Nam" Phan (ex-COO of a PPMG subsidiary) — SEC press release, Sept. 1, 2026.
- Raised: more than $80 million from ~190 mostly retail investors, many retired seniors — SEC complaint.
- Period: ~December 2021 to November 2025 — SEC complaint.
- Alleged personal misappropriation by Hanf: over $7 million — SEC.
- Gap: ~$121 million outstanding vs. under $17 million recoverable as of February 2026 — Jason Lee, SEC San Francisco.
- Charges: Securities Act §17(a) and Exchange Act §10(b)/Rule 10b-5 (Phan under §17(a)(1) and (3)). Both consented to permanent injunctions and securities-industry bars; monetary penalties to be set later by the court. Parallel criminal charges announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.
The real-world read
The figures do the talking. Investors were promised loans "secured by real estate" and fixed returns — the kind of concrete, asset-backed pitch that reads as safe to a retiree. The SEC's arithmetic shows why that framing matters: against nearly $121 million on the books, under $17 million is left. This is also not a crypto story despite the venue it may circulate in — it's a plain private-fund fraud, a reminder that "secured by real estate" is a marketing line until an auditor confirms the loans exist. Note too that a settlement without admission leaves the underlying facts formally untested; the dollar penalties, and the criminal case, are still to come.
Opinion, and whose
The SEC's Jason Lee characterized the losses as "devastating." That is the regulator's framing; the defendants have not admitted the allegations, and no court has yet ruled.
Sources
- SEC, Press Release, Sept. 1, 2026 (primary): charges, dollar figures, timeline, statutory counts, settlement terms, and the Lee quote. Not marketing.
This is news reporting, not financial advice.