The longtime business partner of Kenneth Mattson, a real estate investor accused of running a sprawling Ponzi scheme centered in the Wine Country town of Sonoma, agreed this week to pay about $5 million into a fund to help compensate investors.
Timothy LeFever, who has not been charged with any crimes, has said Mattson acted alone in a “secret scheme” that unraveled the California real estate portfolio the childhood friends built together worth an estimated $413 million.
But LeFever, his companies and family have since been embroiled in bankruptcy proceedings, investigations and lawsuits after scores of retirees who invested their life savings learned their money was never invested and may be gone…