Real Estate Investment Gurus Are Sentenced to Prison for $17 Million Ponzi Scheme

The owners of a real estate investment company in Oregon have been sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty to their roles in a $17 million fraud scheme. 

At a hearing last week at the federal courthouse in Portland, Robert Christensen was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison, and his business partner Anthony Matic was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison. 

Prosecutors say they blew investor and lender cash on casino trips and massages—and left many victims stripped of their life savings. In total, prosecutors say the duo defrauded individual investors out of more than $10 million and commercial lenders out of more than $7 million.

Christensen had previously been a residential loan officer and loan originator for national mortgage companies before starting the investment company, and Matic was a licensed real estate agent.

According to court documents, from January 2019 through June 2023, Christensen and Matic had a business plan to buy Midwest real estate and raised cash for the project from small investors.

The idea was to "entice friends, business contacts, and other people" to invest cash to buy properties in the Great Lakes region and repay them with income or equity from the properties, prosecutors wrote in court filings.

They advised investors that the properties would be rented to produce income and later refinanced to monetize any appreciation in value attributable to improvements.

Christensen and Matic offered and sold these people unregistered promissory notes with above-market interest rates of 8% to 15%, and further promised to return the money, with the interest and an additional lump sum payout, within as little as 30 to 90 days.

Putting pressure on victims

In a sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutor Scott E. Bradford laid out the specifics of the scheme, which Christensen and Matic in their plea agreements admitted to taking part in.

According to Bradford, Christensen and Matic induced victims to invest larger sums of money by pressuring them to obtain home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) secured by their primary residences or to prematurely liquidate retirement accounts.

To accomplish this, they allegedly made material misrepresentations and misleading half-truths regarding the expected returns on the promissory notes, including representations that such returns would exceed the interest obligations on any HELOCs or the performance of the victims’ existing retirement accounts.

Bradford says that Christensen and Matic failed to disclose that they lacked the ability to repay investors within the promised time frames necessary for repayment of HELOC obligations or reinvestment of retirement savings, due to the company’s dire financial condition and lack of liquidity.

The prosecutor indicates that they pressured certain investors to reinvest their funds rather than withdraw them. In some instances, to defer repayment obligations for extended periods, the defendants induced investors to roll their funds into a purported "long-term equity fund," supported by misleading statements and material half-truths.

Bradford said that the pair failed to disclose that the fund was significantly underwater and lacked any realistic prospect of repaying investors.

Inside the Ponzi scheme

Bradford's filing further says that Christensen and Matic diverted substantial portions of investor proceeds from the promissory notes to themselves for personal expenses—including to pay for at least one vacation, gifts, casino trips, massages, a whiskey club membership, and cryotherapy.

The prosecutor says the duo used new investor funds to repay earlier investors and continue the scheme in a Ponzi-like manner.

When investor contributions declined, they obtained millions of dollars in commercial loans by submitting applications containing materially false financial information, according to the filing.

Sentencing details

Court records show that Christensen and Matic each pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud arising from their roles in the investment scheme. Christensen also pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office argued that Matic should receive credit for his immediate acceptance of responsibility, which contributed to his lesser sentence.

Matic must surrender on June 11 to start his sentence, and Christensen must surrender on June 25 to start his.

In a separate 2023 SEC civil case, Christensen and Matic were ordered to pay $5,374,482, plus separate civil penalties of $200,000 each.

The civil case operated independently of the related criminal prosecutions that resulted in the prison sentences for Christensen and Matic.

Victim impact statements

Many of Christensen and Matic's victims—identified only by their initials in court documents—provided impact statements, which showed the real-life consequences of their actions.

Victims M.M. and S.M., who lost $300,000 in the scheme, said they will “never be able to retire” and that they “experienced intense feelings of betrayal from someone who acted as if they were [their] friend."

Victims C.S. and R.S. said because of Christensen, they live in fear of their financial future every day, and now have a mortgage that is double what it was. This has destroyed any dreams of travel in retirement.

Victims B.B. and S.B. said Christensen convinced them to take out a HELOC to invest with him, and now they have “countless sleepless nights, worrying about losing [their] home and [their] financial security.”

Victim D.P. said that after her husband died and she was in mourning, Christensen—who was a friend—called her up to “help” her by investing $50,000 so that he could "double her money." She was never paid back and with her “life savings stripped” on top of the loss of her husband, she has “countless sleepless nights these past years, depression, and anxiety.”

Both men express remorse

When asked if there was anything Christensen would like to say to his victims, Christensen's attorney Scott L. Mullins told Realtor.com®, "Bob made a statement in court. He stands by that." 

According to Oregon Live, Christensen said at his sentencing: “I am mortified that my actions have hurt others. I severely struggle every day."

He said he believed in his business at the start but then “stayed in too long hoping I could fix what was failing.”

Mullins told the judge that Christensen’s actions have ruined his own family, and that his wife and two teenage children didn’t come to court to support him.

Meanwhile, Matic told the judge that he never wanted to hurt anyone.

"I went into this with my heart," he said. "I’m loyal, trustworthy. I did not verify enough. I did not want to hurt anybody, especially my close friends. I saw the red flags. I didn’t act. I don’t know why. I should’ve. … I didn’t want to fail. I should have told the people who were close to me, stop investing. I didn’t.”

Realtor.com reached out to Matic's attorney and did not hear back.