Lawsuit alleges Daniloos' equity theft

Man in Bay Area says he, his mom were used in home-buying scheme

By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER

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The Turlock homes of accused property swindler Tony Daniloo's parents and parents-in-law both were "sold" two years ago, deed documents show — to an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

At the same time, Daniloo was setting up a highflying Modesto mortgage company that came crashing down a year later amid charges of fraud and predatory lending stemming from other deals.

Daniloo and his wife, Nansi Masihi Daniloo, were arrested Dec. 20, 2004, and face a combined 57 felonies in Alameda County, but none reflects transactions involving their parents' homes. Stanislaus County prosecutors have not looked into those deals, although federal authorities might be doing so.

The Bay Area homes of the elderly "buyer" and her son, the son said, were lost after Daniloo plundered their equity in separate transactions that have not resulted in criminal charges.

"I didn't think (Tony Daniloo) would be screwing me behind my back," the son, Campbell attorney Jean Ashton, said in a recent interview. "It was a total shock."

Ashton's wife is distantly related to Nansi Daniloo, he said, and he briefly represented Nansi Daniloo in a 2002 bankruptcy. Tony Daniloo had handled the refinancing of Ashton's San Jose home a few years before, Ashton said, adding that he might have divulged too much information about property his mother owned.

Daniloo stripped $447,200 from the South San Francisco home of Ashton's mother, Wilhelimina Ashton, five months after the Alzheimer's patient moved to Colorado, Ashton's lawsuit says. The elderly woman's signature was forged on October 2003 documents, he said.

Deeds recorded in Stanislaus County two months later show that Wilhelimina Ashton "bought" the Turlock homes occupied by the Daniloos' parents, a Bee review reveals.

Property records show Ashton as the buyer of a three-bedroom home at 3323 Summerdale Ave. and a four-bedroom home at 3821Adams St., both in Turlock and both in December 2003 — about the same time Tony Daniloo started DreamLife Financial.

One home sold at foreclosure

Those and other records suggest that the houses were respectively occupied by Tony Daniloo's parents, David and Susie, and by Nansi Masihi Daniloo's parents, Shavool and Nardin Masihi.

"I had no idea (Tony Daniloo) was using my mother's name up there," Jean Ashton said. "The guy sure had a lot of (guts)."

His mother never visited Turlock and certainly never bought property there, he said.

The Bee was unable to contact either set of parents.

A woman similar in age and appearance to Nansi Daniloo recently said "no comment" before quickly closing the door at the Adams Street home owned by Nardin Masihi.

In February 2004, Tony Daniloo wired the first of three payments totaling $17,500 to a Bay Area escrow officer who notarized some of his transactions, authorities say.

The notary public — Elba Speth — also vouched for some Wilhelimina Ashton documents, which Jean Ashton says were forged.

Jean Ashton said that he was stunned when a title search showed his mother's supposed interests in the Turlock properties. He filed a quit-claim deed on one, which reverted to Nardin Masihi.

The other, previously occupied by Tony Daniloo's parents, was sold at foreclosure in May.

The Masihis nearly have lost the home through foreclosure seven times, property documents show.

Some of the Ashton transaction records in question list a mailing address that turns out to be a rented mailbox in a small Turlock store. The store's owner said that the previous owner had leased a private mailbox to Tony Daniloo.

Jean Ashton, who managed his mother's affairs, had her business mail delivered to him in the Bay Area. Payment-demand and default notices from lending institutions to Wilhelimina Ashton must have gone to Daniloo's rented mailbox, Jean Ashton surmised.

"He gives a phony address so nobody gets the notices, then he sucks the money out," Ashton said.

Office XPress owner Jaspal Randahwa said he bought the Turlock store with his brother in March, three months after Daniloo's arrest, and never met him.

Tony Daniloo used a similar mail scheme on Jean Ashton's house, Ashton said, eventually resulting in the home's sale at foreclosure without Ashton's knowledge. Ashton reacquired his house in a court battle that included a settlement with the title company involved.

Judge to rule on Bay Area deals

A preliminary hearing for the Daniloos in Alameda County Superior Court is scheduled to begin Jan. 25. A judge is to rule on whether they should stand trial on counts related to Bay Area transactions.

The U.S. Secret Service began investigating Tony and Nansi Daniloo in fall 2002, according to an Internal Revenue Service affidavit filed before federal agents searched the couple's home and DreamLife office a year ago.

But an IRS agent connected to the case recently refused to say whether the probe is ongoing.

Stanislaus County Assistant District Attorney Carol Shipley said an assistant U.S. attorney was assigned to the case. Her office deferred to federal authorities, she said, and has not pursued DreamLife or the Daniloos.

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