Monday, Dec. 29, 2008

Warrant with ties to Modesto details shady dealings

Local man cited in $3B loan scam

A Modesto man awaiting trial on mortgage fraud charges promised loans of $3 billion to casino and golf resort developers in the South in a scheme that netted him $300,000, according to a search warrant.

Believing a phony story about a wealthy Hong Kong investor, 39 victims wired money to a Modesto bank for real estate appraisals that Tony Havens never intended to do, the search warrant says. Some developers lost their multimillion-dollar projects as a result, according to court documents.

Meanwhile, Havens, 35, who managed the now- defunct Sin City night club in downtown Modesto, pleaded guilty Sept. 9 to 14 felonies linked to a previous real estate scam whose victims include former Manteca Mayor Frank Warren.

Havens' sentencing, postponed three times, is scheduled for early January and should produce a restitution order showing how much he owes Warren and another victim, from whom he conned a combined $208,000, according to Havens' plea deal. It guarantees him no more than six years in prison.

At his north Modesto address where the search was conducted Dec. 12, a woman who identified herself as Havens' wife Tuesday evening said he wasn't home but would like to tell his story. The Bee received no call from Havens on Wednesday and was unable to reach his attorney.

Glenn Gulley, the Stanislaus County district attorney investigator who wrote the search warrant affidavit, said policy prevents him from discussing an open case.

The document describes Gulley's contacts with several developers in Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida who thought they had secured loans ranging from a few million dollars to $169 million, starting about February. Wendell "Council" Phillips of Panama City, Fla., referred business to Havens and his Modesto-based Dynamic Financial Services, Gulley says in the affidavit.

The company's Web site claims Dynamic "is a growing player in the hard money industry" with eight years of experience in "helping a family save their home from foreclosure to coordinating multiple million dollar loans." Havens portrayed himself as a "broker for bridge lenders," according to Gulley's affidavit.

"In nearly three years, I am not aware of any legitimate business being conducted from Dynamic Financial Services," Gulley writes.

Gulley states that he could find no record of the company with the California secretary of state, California Department of Real Estate or business licensing at Modesto City Hall. Neither could he find anything to suggest that attorney Leif Chang is an actual person operating from a 48-story Hong Kong skyscraper, as Havens claimed, Gulley says in the document.

At least 32 alleged victims emerged after a Bee notice about Havens' conviction in the first scheme was published Sept. 12, Gulley says. It referred to Havens deceiving investors with forged documents related to 40 properties in Modesto and Florida, after pocketing their money.

Havens admitted having fabricated an attorney and a judge in the first scheme, Gulley says in the affidavit. Havens lied to a Tracy woman, telling her he was a Navy Seal, and to others about his uncle's involvement with the Chinese mafia, Gulley says.

Havens, awaiting trial in Modesto, ceased communicating with the Southern developers after receiving their appraisal fees, Gulley says.

"Tony Huy Havens has once again executed a real estate fraud scheme by taking money from victims and keeping their money for personal gain," Gulley writes.

A judge signed a warrant allowing Gulley to search Havens' two Mercedes-Benzes, his BMW and his house on Rose Garden Court. Gulley seized three laptop computers, three other computers, two cell phones and several boxes of files, according a court document.

Committing "secondary offenses while on bail" is prohibited in the California Penal Code.

Sin City Nights closed in October 2007 after Modesto City Council members revoked its dance permit.

Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at gstapley@modbee.com or 578-2390.