Rod Jarmin and Tammy Jordan’s trial starts Monday

June 4, 2015

By KAREN VELIE

Four years after they were arrested for seven counts of fraud and embezzlement, Real Property Lenders (RPL) of Paso Robles principals Rod Jarmin and Tammy Jordan’s trial will begin on Monday.

In April 2014, Jarmin, 76, and Jordan, 53, were arrested in connection with a scheme in which they allegedly swindled more than 700 investors out of about $30 million. Both defendants are currently out of jail on bail.

Jarmin and Jordan plead not guilty to seven felony counts of the sale of securities by means of false statements and omissions.

The former Paso Robles hard money lenders stand accused of fraudulently selling securities to hundreds of investors, primarily seniors. Under their company, RPL, the duo would entice locals to invest in projects that they knew were failing, under false assurances that investor monies were secure, according to the investigation.

The misrepresentation or the omission of facts when offering or selling securities is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and up to a $10 million fine, per violation.

Enticed by the promise of 12-percent interest on property-secured investments, approximately 700 investors entrusted their nest eggs with RPL in the form of hard money loans.

Jarmin said “people were lined up outside his door to invest their money with RPL,” according to a District Attorney’s office September 2010 interview. Jarmin said his company’s portfolio contained more than $55 million, much of which is still owed to investors.

The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s office began its inquiry into RPL in December 2008 following the DOC investigation and pressure by numerous local citizens who filed complaints with the county alleging lending fraud.

The company had allegedly distributed inaccurate circulars that disclosed an outdated track record which only noted a history of four loan foreclosures, when in fact it had already foreclosed on 50 projects. The “offering circular” also claimed not a single investor had ever lost money invested in RPL.

Meanwhile, investigators say Jarmin and Jordan fraudulently used the erroneous circulars to lure 80 new investors to make 105 new deals in the amount of $9,223,000 from Feb. 22, 2007 through Dec. 31, 2007.

One of the more egregious investigation findings says that while the lending duo claimed a sound history, they managed to lure some investors into leveraging their retirement funds into projects that unbeknownst to them were days away from foreclosure, according to court documents.

In addition, developers working with RPL where able to misuse funds because RPL failed to provide adequate oversight.

For example, RPL borrower, Tony Gaspar, financed a go-cart track at his Templeton home by having the asphalt contractor change the work address so it would be covered by a group of RPL project investors, according to work orders and Clint Osborne, the contractor who did the work.

Jordan and Jarmin assured investors they would dole out money to contractors in progress payments as the properties were developed. However, they did not inspect projects as promised.

When borrowers failed to make payments, instead of foreclosing as required by their loan servicing agreements, RPL instead would cover the costs by bringing in new investors selling out more than 100 percent interest in properties.

Jordan and Jarmin are the last defendants involved in four hard money lending schemes that allegedly cost victims a total of more than $500 million.

Don’t miss breaking news, like CCN on Facebook.