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The Securities and Exchange Commission files civil complaint against Mark D. Hanf and Hoai-Nam Chu Phan for $80 million real estate fraud.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced a civil complaint against Mark D. Hanf and the former COO of a Pacific Private Money Group LLC subsidiary, Hoai-Nam Chu Phan, for orchestrating a Ponzi-like operation. The two former executives were accused of misleading approximately 190 retail investors into pouring more than $80 million into real estate funds that failed to generate the promised returns.

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From December 2021 through November 2025, the executives allegedly funneled new investor money to pay off earlier investors rather than distributing genuine profits from lending activity. The SEC also alleged that Mark D. Hanf personally diverted more than $7 million of investor funds for his own use. The scheme began to unravel in the fall of 2025 as investors demanded to withdraw their money and the defendants lacked sufficient funds to satisfy the requests. By February 2026, the total recoverable assets were estimated to be less than $17 million of the $121 million in total outstanding investments. Both Mark D. Hanf and Hoai-Nam Chu Phan agreed to judgments that would permanently bar them from participating in the issuance, purchase, offer, or sale of any security, except for personal account transactions.

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