Director of Walnut Creek Investment Firm Indicted on Fraud Allegation

Bay City News Service

The managing director of a Walnut Creek-based private equity investment company has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Oakland and arrested on charges of defrauding investors.

U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag announced that Stephen Lopez, 57, of Lafayette, the managing director of Lighthorse Ventures LLC, was arrested on Thursday. Lopez entered a plea of not guilty Friday before a federal magistrate in Oakland, and was released on a $100,000 bond.

Lighthorse Ventures has an office at 1600 S. Main St., Walnut Creek.

Lopez was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 13 on three counts of mail fraud, seven counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering related to financial transactions he conducted in 2008 — according to a news release by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

According to the indictment, Lopez solicited loans on behalf of Lighthorse and signed promissory notes in which he promised to repay the principal in a timely way, along with interest of 10 or 12 percent per year.

The indictment alleges he defrauded investors by not telling them that he had failed to return the principal and interest to the majority of previous lenders and that he owed $600,000 to one group of investors in 2008 as a result of a civil settlement.

The indictment also alleges that Lopez defrauded prospective lenders by overvaluing Lighthorse's existing investments and falsely telling the lenders that Lighthorse held additional ownership interests in other companies, real estate and oil wells.

The indictment was sealed until Lopez's first court appearance before a federal magistrate in Oakland on Friday.

He is due to appear before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White, the trial judge assigned to the case, in Oakland on May 23 for a status conference and possible setting of a trial date.
If Lopez is convicted, the fraud counts each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and the money laundering counts each have a maximum of 10 years.
             
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