Man scams older investors in $17M real estate scheme in CA, feds say. ‘Took it all’
A California man has been sentenced in connection with a pair of real estate investment schemes that a judge said amounted to “real violence” and took advantage of people “in their golden years,” according to officials.
Brett Barber, 45, of Costa Mesa, was sentenced to 181 months in prison – or 15-plus years – during a hearing Dec. 9 in federal court, prosecutors said.
“There may not have been bloodshed, but this was real violence. (Barber) knew these people were in their golden years, and he just took it all,” Judge Otis D. Wright II said during the hearing, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
The schemes brought in more than $17 million, officials said.
The sentencing came after Barber pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud for his role in the schemes, according to prosecutors. He also pleaded guilty to one count of criminal contempt after officials said he failed to turn himself in when his bond was revoked, prosecutors said.
Barber’s attorney told McClatchy News she’s “saddened that the Court chose to impose a sentence so far above the guideline range.”
“I believe a sentence below the 120 months recommended by the government would have been appropriate. The 181 month sentence is far beyond sentences of similarly situated defendants in my opinion,” attorney Jennifer J. Wirsching wrote in an email to McClatchy News on Dec. 10.
Barber is accused of taking part in two schemes in Newport Beach between May 2019 and October 2021.
The first involved a company called BNZ Capital One, according to court documents. Barber and another man, Louis Zimmerle, 65, of Sacramento, plus hired “marketers,” told potential investors the company would “generate returns” by flipping or developing properties, prosecutors said.
Potential investors were promised up to 10% interest, officials said.
However, while the company did spend some investor money on real estate, it “never generated revenues or profits sufficient to make payments promised to investors,” and it used money from new investors to pay back earlier ones, according to court documents.
Still, Barber, Zimmerle and the marketers continued going after new investors and asking the earlier ones to “reinvest” in BNZ, according to court documents.
They didn’t tell investors their money would be used that way or that some of it would go toward other purposes, such as homes for Barber and Zimmerle, officials said.
“At least five investors were elderly, vulnerable victims who suffered a substantial hardship as a result of their investment in BNZ Capital,” prosecutors said.
Barber eventually caught wind that federal investigators were looking at BNZ and started a second scheme involving a company called National American Capital, prosecutors said.
The scheme “operated, in substance, in the same way as the BNZ Capital scheme,” according to court documents.
At one point, Barber met with an undercover FBI agent posing as a potential investor and made false claims about the business, including that it had been around for 20 years, had 10 parcels in Laguna Beach and developed a four-plex in Newport Beach, court documents said.
Barber admitted to making similar statements to investors and potential investors, officials said.
A restitution hearing is scheduled for Jan. 9 in federal court.
Meanwhile, civil charges brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against Barber, Zimmerle and BNZ Capital are pending, prosecutors said.
Zimmerle was sentenced to five years’ probation after pleading guilty in 2022 in federal court to one count of wire fraud, prosecutors said. He also was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and $684,500 in restitution, officials said.
In the news release, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said Barber “enriched himself through a fraudulent investment scheme that solicited millions of dollars from retirement funds belonging to his victims, including older adults.” He said Barber’s “sentence sends a message to victims that we are here to fight for them and hold con artists and other fraudsters accountable for their actions.”
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