Overview

• Ken Mattson, a Sonoma real estate developer, faces nine federal charges, including wire fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice, stemming from a Ponzi scheme alleged to have begun in 2009.
• The FBI arrested Mattson on May 22 in a Napa parking lot after a year-long investigation and federal indictment filed earlier this month was unsealed.
• Prosecutors allege Mattson defrauded hundreds of investors, many retirees, out of tens of millions by misrepresenting investments as legitimate real estate partnerships.
• The indictment accuses Mattson of diverting at least $28 million into personal accounts, falsifying records, and using new investor funds to pay returns to earlier investors.
• If convicted, Mattson faces decades in prison, with maximum sentences of 20 years for wire fraud and obstruction charges, and 10 years for money laundering.