The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services has issued a cease and desist order to an investment company it says ripped off about 70 Oregonians. KLCC’s Chris Lehman reports.
The company is called Woodbridge Mortgage Investment. The state says the firm convinced nearly six dozen Oregonians to pay into what the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission called a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme that targeted seniors.
Federal regulators said more than 4,000 investors fell prey to the scam nationwide. The head of Woodbridge agreed to pay a $120 million fine in November. More than a dozen Woodbridge sales agents were also charged in the scheme.
Oregon insurance regulators say their investigation at the state level showed that while Woodbridge promised investors that their money would be backed by real estate holdings, the company did not in fact own any real estate.
