Owens/Naylor San Francisco mortgage: ties to a ponzi scheme
In November 2017, Ronald Owens and Elizabeth Naylor took out a mortgage on their San Francisco house, from Pacific Private Money (more on that later), a "hard money loan". The terms were $500,000 at 10.5% interest, with a due date in 2 years. Less than a year later, in September 2018, Owens and Naylor modified the loan, borrowing an additional $100,000, also at 10.5% These loans were both through a "real estate broker" and "thus exempt from usury laws."
These mortgages are listed on u/BigTiffDog's spreadsheet:
Excerpt of BigTiffDog's spreadsheet showing mortgages in question
Two months later, in November 2018, Owens and Naylor took out a 3rd mortgage against the house for another $850,000. This was ON TOP of the two mortgages discussed above. But today, we're looking at the Nov 2017 and Sep 2018 mortgages.
These mortgages were both "non-traditional," or not offered through conventional banks like Bank of America or Wells Fargo: these lenders are private party lenders.
But look at the "release date" in the table above: these loans were "reconveyed" by Pacific Private Money 6 years after the Owens/Naylor debtors sold the house. That seems a little odd, doesn't it?
Mark Hanf signs reconveyance doc, recorded March 2, 2026
That lender, Pacific Private Money, abruptly closed shop in February 2026, at about the same time this reconveyance was suspiciously recorded 6 years after the house had already sold. https://web.archive.org/web/20261001182213/https://www.sfchronicle.com/realestate/article/pacific-private-money-mark-hanf-21938614.php
Pacific Private Money filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Northern District of California https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73491347/pacific-private-money-inc/ on June 16, 2026.
Pacific Private Money Inc's website https://www.pacificprivatemoney.com/ says that they "have discontinued operations and are no longer providing loans of any type." (There is plenty of content on them on the internet archive site however, and the last capture of good data is here: https://web.archive.org/web/20260411020147/https://www.pacificprivatemoney.com/ )
And >>>>> on September 1, 2026, the founder and CEO of Pacific Private Money, Mark Hanf, was criminally charged with wire fraud and money laundering. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/founder-and-ceo-bay-area-real-estate-investment-fund-charged-multi-year-fraud-scheme The US Government alleges that Hanf and one other were involved in "a multi-year conspiracy to defraud Pacific Private Money investors by making false statements about the enterprise’s financial condition to induce investment into the enterprise’s funds." Hanf pleaded guilty on September 30, 2026.
The Government says in the release linked above "The information also alleges that part of the scheme involved Hanf transferring 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."
Hum. 👀
The Government also said defendants agreed to pay restitution of over $71 million. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/mark-hanf-and-coo-novato-based-pacific-private-money-agree-they-are-responsible-least
More coverage: https://nypost.com/2026/09/02/us-news/bay-area-executives-indicted-in-alleged-103m-ponzi-scheme/
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NOTE: I am not saying that Owens or Naylor were involved in the money laundering or wire fraud schemes, only that their lender has been charged and pleaded guilty to that.