Estate Financial of Atascadero (defunct)
Estate Financial Inc of Atascadero, principals Joshua Yaguda and Karen Guth.
Three former employees of now defunct Estate Financial Inc. (EFI) claim they witnessed fraudulent behavior while employed at the Paso Robles hard money lending firm.
On 7 Dec, 2009 San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Jac Crawford sentenced Estate Financial, Inc. principal Karen Guth to 12 years in prison and Joshua Yaguda to eight years for fraudulently selling securities without the proper licenses, lying to investors and stealing or destroying property worth $3.2 million. Guth and Yaguda pleaded guilty in October to 26 felony counts after Crawford offered a plea
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PDFGold for some: EFI trustees bill estate $4.5 million
By KAREN VELIE While most people touched by the Estate Financial Inc. (EFI) debacle have been monetarily devastated, a select few are in line to do quite well. Trustees and their special attorneys have collected, or are requesting, compensation of $4.5 million for their effort to organize the failed North County lenders’ debts. Charges includes approximately $4 million for the current trustees... (Continue Reading)
Picking at bones of EFI: Lawyers wrangling
By KAREN VELIE During the latest battle over assets of failed Estate Financial Inc. (EFI) , attorneys for trustees, former co-owner Charlie Applebaum, Joshua Yaguda’s wife, and Heritage Oaks bank argued their clients alleged claims at an asset hearing on Friday. San Luis Obispo Deputy District Attorney Steve von Dohlen objected to Joeli Yaguda’s request that the court recognize an undocumented ownership... (Continue Reading)
EFI victims question attorney’s actions
By KAREN VELIE and DANIEL BLACKBURN An attorney with a prominent San Luis Obispo law firm who injected himself into the ongoing hard money lending scandal has assembled a group of investor clients with apparently competing interests. Roger Frederickson of the Sinsheimer Juhnke Lebens & McIvor (SJL&M) firm was retained in March 2008 by nine investors who lost money in the collapse... (Continue Reading)
Guth, Yaguda still stewing; more arrests hinted
By KAREN VELIE Prosecutors and defense attorneys today asked a judge to postpone arraignment and bail hearing for Estate Financial Inc. principles Karen Guth and Joshua Yaguda for the fourth time. San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Charles Crawford agreed to continue the arraignment of Estate Financial Inc.principles on 26 felony charges to February 20. Then Deputy District Attorney Steve von Dohlen... (Continue Reading)
EFI investor prospects dismal
By KAREN VELIE and DANIEL BLACKBURN Investors in both the Estate Financial Mortgage Fund (EFMF) and Estate Financial Inc (EFI) received gloomy reports from trustees regarding recouping investments through the bankruptcy court. The bad news was contained in a letter sent to investors earlier this month. EFMF investors appear to be in the least likely position to recoup investments, despite assurances from... (Continue Reading)
Heritage Oaks Bank files big foreclosures
By KAREN VELIE and DANIEL BLACKBURN Heritage Oaks Bank has filed foreclosure notices against developer Kelly Gearhart’s Vista Del Hombre project, as well as Karen Guth and Joshua Yaguda’s Pasolivio Olive Ranch. Bank officials did so despite a state move on all Guth-Yaguda assets. Following the Oct. 16 arrest of the mother-son team, state officials filed a lis pendens on all properties... (Continue Reading)
ESTATE FINANCIAL UPDATE: Conflicts of interest?
By KAREN VELIE Several key players in a hard money lender’s federal bankruptcy proceedings have apparent conflicts of interest, a situation which may further complicate investors’ efforts to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in lost assets. Trustees appointed by the Santa Barbara bankruptcy court are trying to sort out the convoluted financial dealings of Estate Financial Inc. (EFI) and EFI Mortgage... (Continue Reading)
Bank dubbed co-conspirator
By KAREN VELIE and DANIEL BLACKBURN Estate Financial Inc. (EFI) creditor Ron Cooper said he plans to identify Heritage Oaks Bank as a co-conspirator with EFI principals Karen Guth and Joshua Yaguda in a lawsuit to be filed later this month. Heritage Oaks Bank allegedly lent Guth approximately $20 million in unsecured loans. Following reports by this Web site that EFI was... (Continue Reading)
Estate Financial attorneys blame market downturn
By KAREN VELIE Following a fourth bail hearing and arraignment continuation, Joshua Yaguda’s attorney pointed at the downturn in the market as the catalyst for the financial ruin of Estate Financial inc. (EFI), on Monday morning. “The market shifted and changed,” Yaguda’s attorney Dyke Huish said. “That’s what happened here. They made people lots of money on the upside.”... (Continue Reading)
Former EFI employee: ’We all knew it was fraud’
By KAREN VELIE and DANIEL BLACKBURN Three former employees of defunct Estate Financial Inc. (EFI) claim they witnessed fraudulent behavior while employed at the Paso Robles hard money lending firm. Speaking to CalCoastNews on condition of anonymity, the individuals provided new details of working conditions and financial practices of their ex-employers, Karen Guth and her son, Joshua Yaguda. Each of the former... (Continue Reading)
