SAN DIEGO – A commercial real estate developer and mortgage broker was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday for his role in a $50 million securities fraud scheme, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Bradley Holcom, 57, pleaded guilty in July to committing wire fraud in connection with the sale of about $50 million worth of promissory notes which he sold to more than 150 investors throughout the United States.
Elderly investors who had lost millions of dollars asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence.
The investors – some tearful, some angry, all financially and emotionally debilitated – told the court of the devastating impact of losing their life’s savings at retirement age with no ability to recover, officials said.
“My retirement funds for my golden years are gone,” one of the victims said during the hearing. “He could’ve pointed a gun to my head or held a knife to my chest, and he couldn’t have hurt me more.””
According to court documents, Holcom sold properties that were supposedly serving as the security for investors without informing them that the property they had financed for development was gone.
Holcom admitted that in 2008 and 2009, even though his financial condition had seriously deteriorated, he continued to solicit investors by making misrepresentations about his true financial condition and the manner in which he was using investor money.
As a result of the scheme, Holcom admitted that his conduct caused approximately $50 million in losses.
He solicited investors for the development of raw land for commercial and residential purposes through an investment he operated called the Trust Deed Investment Program.
Holcom falsely told investors who purchased notes through the Investment Program that they would receive a lien on a specific piece of property he was developing and that the lien would be in first position, officials said.
However, Holcom said he never provided investors with a lien in the property he was purportedly developing and instead conveyed to investors a lesser interest that did not allow them to directly foreclose on the property to protect their investment.
Also Holcom admitted that he subsequently solicited investments for properties that he knew were already encumbered by first position liens.