West End Properties - Pete & Peter DeSantiago Real Estate Fraud and Ponzi Scheme Sacramento California

In late 2007, I was invited to participate in an investment opportunity managed and operated by West End Properties, LLC, a California company. It was later discovered that Peter DeSantiago, president of West End Properties, and his father Pete DeSantiago, also operated under several other company aliases formed in the state of Nevada and elsewhere, including but not limited to:

Good For All, Inc.
Breezy Plains, Inc.
Mountain Mansions, LLC.
Mountain Crest, Inc.

The DeSantiagos offered several real estate-based investment options with plenty of promise of decent returns. In lieu of a cash option, I invested my credit worthiness rather than actual cash. My family did invest a large amount of cash under the cash option and by the late summer of 2008, when promissory notes were called in due to increasingly erratic behaviors on the part of the DeSantiagos, no money was available - neither were the DeSantiagos for questioning.

For my part, I was initially told that West End Properties operated a very successful and profitable real estate business whereby they would:

1. locate stable and growing real estate markets in select U.S. cities (Denver area in this case)
2. purchase single-family properties at a profitable percentage of the value
3. fix up the properties as needed
4. find buyers with good credit (myself at the time)
5. secure bank loan approvals and financing to transfer a number of said properties to these buyers
6. work with local property management companies (Denver area in this case) to lease the properties out to tenants for positive cash flow to cover mortgage payments in full; all moneys would be handled by West End Properties working with local property managment
7. wait for the market to go up to a reasonable profitable level (estimated 1-2 years)
8. sell the homes, paying the note-holders (buyers) a decent percentage of the profit on each home for the use of his or her credit during the process

By the beginning of 2008, I had been 'sold' multiple properties in this process. I would come to learn later that I was sold these homes at drastically marked up prices one property in particular was severely structurally unsound and today is only worth the lot it sits on plus salvage of the property. This particular property the DeSantiagos sold me for $80,000 more than they had just purchased it for only a few months before without completing any supposed renovations in essence they sold it to me for roughly 166% of the market value. This also made it clear the DeSantiagos had underhanded connections with a local Denver area finance company and local appraisers to overvalue these properties and somehow secure inflated financing with banks.

By August 2008, only a bit over half a year into the 'opportunity,' I learned that mortgage payments on the homes under my name were no longer being made. I then made several attempts to reach Peter DeSantiago by phone and email to discuss the situation all attempts went unanswered. Finally paying a personal visit to West End Properties in September, I found the door locked with Peter DeSantiago visibly inside but choosing to remain poorly hidden in his office, unwilling to talk or even respond to repeated requests to talk. It was all too clear at this point that I was stuck in a serious scam with a large number of defaulted homes now in my name and a once great credit rating dropping through the floor.

The DeSantiagos continued to ignore any and all of my attempts to communicate until finally I lost knowledge of their whereabouts entirely. I've since connected with other folks in the Sacramento area who have been similarly affected and have learned through investigators that the DeSantiagos allegedly ran a very similar scheme in Las Vegas only a couple years ealier, allegedly walking away from over $9 Million in mortgages there also, all of which resulted in foreclosures and bankruptcies affecting the lives of a lot of trusting folks like those here in the Sacramento area. As I understand it, many of the local folks affected here are elderly retirees now completely robbed of their retirement savings.

The DeSantiagos seem to be able to move from place to place doing this sort of thing, so beware. In researching my own situation, it seems there are a number of people and companies out there doing schemes like this, so pay very close attention if you find yourself considering real estate investing these days. Make sure you're dealing with people who have been in the business for a long time and have not moved into your area anytime recently.