Two Marin County men were indicted Tuesday on federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in an alleged Ponzi scheme, U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian announced.

Tiburon resident Mark Hanf, founder and CEO of Pacific Private Money, and Novato resident Nam Phan, the fund’s COO, are accused of carrying out a multiyear conspiracy to defraud investors by making false statements about the fund’s financial condition to induce additional investments.

Prosecutors allege that both men knew as early as 2021 that a number of Pacific Private Money’s projects were losing money and value but continued to solicit investors without disclosing the problems.

“As the financial condition of Pacific Private Money worsened, starting in December 2021 Hanf and Phan moved money between Pacific Private Money investment funds to keep them afloat and used new investor funds to pay distributions and redemptions to previous investors,” federal prosecutors allege.

In other words, prosecutors allege, it was a Ponzi scheme.

According to the allegations, Pacific Private Money funds raised approximately $103 million from more than 175 investors between December 2021 and December 2025. In June 2026, Pacific Private Money entities filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Northern District of California.

Prosecutors also allege that Hanf transferred funds from the Pacific Private Money enterprise to another entity he controlled to pay personal expenses, including credit card bills and home mortgage payments.

If convicted, both defendants face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the wire fraud conspiracy count. Hanf also faces a maximum of 10 years in prison for the money laundering count, prosecutors said.

Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.