Two Californians connected with an Orange County-based business loan fraud scam have been charged with wire fraud and money laundering, according to the Department of Justice.
The two Growth 1 Funding Corp. executives were arrested Sept. 25 by FBI officers.
The executives, Dane Andre Moore and Mary Lew Chrisinger, are alleged to have defrauded 10 or more borrowers of approximately $7.2 million. On Sept. 22, 2004, a federal grand jury in California returned an indictment charging the two defendants and Growth 1 Funding Corp. with 10 counts of wire fraud in connection with the scheme. In addition, Moore was charged with four counts of money laundering.
According to the indictment, Moore owned and operated Growth 1 Funding Corp. Growth 1 offered business loans that required borrowers to make high dollar deposits up front. The advance deposits were supposed to be used as collateral or to secure collateral for the loans. Instead, defendants Moore and his assistant Mary Lew Chrisinger would use the borrower’s advance deposits to pay personal and business expenses and for other unlawful and fraudulent purposes.
Growth 1, based in Santa Ana, CA, was the subject of several special reports written by René Tankersley and published by Land Line Magazine. Tankersley doggedly pursued Growth 1, Funding Tree and Commercial Money Center Inc. and others after a number of OOIDA members complained they had been scammed.
According to information in a Sept. 25 press release from the office of Debra W. Yang, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, the FBI executed search warrants at Moore’s home in Seal Beach and Growth 1's offices, now located in Long Beach. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth B. Julian is handling the case.
The post indictment arraignment calendar of Magistrate Judge Arthur Nakazato indicates Chrisinger has posted bail but Moore has not. If convicted, the maximum penalty under federal law for each count of mail and wire fraud is 20 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine or both.
The case was investigated by law-enforcement personnel from the FBI.
--By the Land Line staff
