Two executives of Pacific Private Money, a Novato, California, lender, have pleaded guilty to fraud and agreed to owe victims no less than $71,790,425 in restitution. Prosecutors say the company raised about $106.7 million from investors between December 2021 and December 2025.
Founder Mark Hanf and chief operating officer Nam Phan entered their pleas in federal court in the Northern District of California, according to an IRS Criminal Investigation release that carries the U.S. Attorney’s announcement. Phan pleaded guilty on September 23 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Hanf pleaded guilty on September 30 to the same charge and to money laundering.
What the two executives admitted
The release says the pair admitted using new investor funds to pay redemptions to earlier investors. A redemption is a request to cash out, so the arrangement meant money from newer investors went to people who wanted out. The release also says they provided sanitized financials, which prosecutors describe as financial information cleaned up to hide how the business was doing. The release does not use the word Ponzi, and this account does not either.
Hanf is 66 and lives in Tiburon, and Phan is 58 and lives in Novato, according to Local News Matters.
For households, the question is what a case like this means for ordinary money, and the answer depends on where it sits. Anyone who put savings into a private lender’s notes or funds, whether directly or through a relative or an adviser, now has a documented example of how a lender can look healthy while paying earlier investors with later ones. Retirees weighing a private loan fund against a bank account or Treasury bills face the same trade: higher advertised returns, with the lender’s own statements as the main evidence.
This case is not finished, since sentencing is months away; The Retirement Money Brief will cover the next step in plain English when it happens.
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The $71,790,425 restitution floor
The restitution figure is a minimum. The release says the defendants agreed they are responsible for restitution to victims of no less than $71,790,425. That amount is part of the plea agreements and has not yet been ordered by a judge. It is also lower than the $106.7 million raised, which is the total brought in over the four years of the conspiracy and not a loss figure. The gap between the two numbers is about \$34.9 million, and the release does not say how much of it went back to earlier investors as redemptions or how much is accounted for in some other way.
The final restitution order will come with sentencing. Judges in federal fraud cases set restitution after reviewing the victims’ losses, and the plea-agreement floor tells the victims the amount will not be lower than the stated figure, though it can be higher.
The money came in over 48 months, from December 2021 to December 2025, an average of roughly $2.2 million a month. The restitution floor of $71,790,425 equals about 67 percent of the $106.7 million raised.
Sentencing in February 2027
Phan is scheduled to be sentenced on February 10, 2027, and Hanf on February 17, 2027. The release lists a maximum of 20 years in prison for wire fraud conspiracy, with up to 10 more years available for money laundering, a count that applies to Hanf. Those are the ceilings the law sets, not predictions of what the court will impose. Federal judges weigh sentencing guidelines, the amount of loss and the defendants’ own roles.
The two men have admitted guilt, but nothing about their sentences is final until the court rules. That leaves about four months between the pleas and the first sentencing. Phan’s hearing comes first, with Hanf’s a week later, so the court will hear from the chief operating officer before the founder. IRS Criminal Investigation lists the release on its press release index under September 30, the same day Hanf entered his plea and a week after Phan entered his. The release does not say what sentence prosecutors will seek, or whether the final restitution figure will be set at those hearings, and it names no victims.
What investors in private lenders can do while the case moves forward
People who invested through Pacific Private Money should look to the court case for restitution information, since the plea agreements place the victims’ recovery within the criminal proceeding. Investors can keep statements, subscription documents and records of every payment received, because those records are what establish a loss figure.
Anyone considering a similar fund can ask how redemptions are funded and whether the lender’s financial statements are audited by an outside firm. The case shows why the second question matters: financials prepared by the lender itself were, according to the release, part of what the executives admitted to.
The IRS Criminal Investigation release, published September 30, is the main public record of the pleas for now.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by The Financial Wire’s editorial team.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
