Owners of Tigard real estate investment firm accused of defrauding investors and lenders out of more than $18 million

The owners of a Tigard-based residential real estate firm are accused of defrauding investors and commercial lenders out of more than $18 million, according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday.

Robert D. Christensen, 54, of Sherwood, and Anthony M. Matic, 55, of Damascus, each have been charged in a 21-count indictment accusing them of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

From January 2019 through at least June 30, 2023, the two allegedly defrauded new and existing investors in their residential real estate business by misleading them on how they would use investor money and about the financial health of their company when the business was actually in “survival mode,” the indictment says.

They claimed that investors’ money would go to buy and renovate undervalued residential properties primarily located in the Midwest and that the properties would then be rented to generate income and refinanced to extract increased values from the renovations. They misled investors into believing that they would be repaid their full principal, with interest up to 15% and a large lump sum, all within 30- to 90-day periods, the indictment alleges.

All the while, the business was struggling to survive, and the owners were “underwater and owed millions of dollars to existing investors,” the indictment says.

Christensen would cite his nearly 20 years of experience in the real estate industry while Matic would hold himself out to be a former correctional officer for the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office for more than 25 years and a licensed real estate agent for more than 15 years, according to the indictment. Matic was a corrections deputy with the sheriff’s office from 1994 to 2019.

They used money from new investors to pay earlier investors to try to keep the business afloat “on the unfounded hope that a solution would present itself,” according to the indictment.

The two men also are accused of defrauding commercial lenders by submitting applications that contained false financial information about their businesses, prompting lenders to provide millions of dollars in loans to them, the indictment alleges.

Christensen and Matic are accused of defrauding investors out of more than $11.4 million and commercial lenders out of more than $7 million, according to prosecutors.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating the two men for violating federal securities law and filed a complaint against them in 2023, according to court records. The commission identified four businesses the two had founded: The Commission PDX LLC, Foresee Inc., The Policy PDX LLC and Innings 150 LLC. The two men and their companies reached financial settlements with the federal commission but didn’t admit the allegations, agreeing to pay $5.4 million back. Christensen and Matic also each agreed to pay $200,000 in penalties, according to court records.

Both men made their first appearances on the criminal indictment Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jolie A. Russo in Portland.

They each entered not guilty pleas and were released pending trial. A seven-day trial is scheduled for Oct. 29.

— Maxine Bernstein covers federal court and criminal justice. Reach her at 503-221-8212, [email protected], follow her on X @maxoregonian, or on LinkedIn.

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