Jury finds developer and attorney liable for fraud, with damages up to $10M-plus
A jury has found a Sacramento-area attorney and developer liable for secretly selling a Placer County property for far below market value in order to pocket millions for themselves.
The amount of damages against developer Christopher Steele and attorney Andrew Sackheim will be at least $7.3 million and could be up to $10.7 million, with the final total to be determined by the judge, according to court documents.
The jury found Steele and Sackheim liable for fraud, concealment, intentional misrepresentation and breach of fiduciary duties, according to court documents. The jury found $7.3 million damages for one set of counts, and $3.4 million for another. The judge will determine whether those amounts will be added together.
Donyne Ranch LLC and East Lincoln Associates LLC filed the lawsuit in 2019 in Placer Superior Court. It alleged Steele and Sackheim secretly negotiated the sale of a 140-acre property to Elliott Homes in 2012 for $6.6 million, which was far below market value, the plaintiffs’ attorney said in a news release.
They sold it for the low value so they two could take $3 million in profit for themselves while causing the plaintiffs to lose over $10 million, the release alleged.
Steele told the plaintiff that the “property would not be sold, in part or in whole, until the work of developing said property had been completed, so that the sales price(s) the partners would obtain would be based on the values for fully entitled real estate,” the lawsuit alleged. Then in 2018, Steele and Sackheim told Wharton they had sold the entire property to Elliott Homes, long before that work had been completed.
At least 50 single-family homes have been built so far on the property, called Turkey Creek Estates by Elliott Homes, while about two-thirds of the land is still vacant. The property is located adjacent to the Turkey Creek Golf Course, which Steele owns, in the city of Lincoln.
“This case was about a betrayal of trust at the highest level of real estate development partnerships,” said Jeff Ochrach, trial counsel for the plaintiffs, in a statement. “Mr. Steele and Mr. Sackheim were entrusted to develop this property to maximize its value for all stakeholders. Instead, they secretly sold it at a bottom-of-the-market price, costing our clients more than $10 million.”
Steele’s attorneys did not respond to a request seeking comment.
Sackheim called the verdict “erroneous.”
“We are confident that the judge will correct the erroneous jury verdict, and to the extent that any of the errors are not so corrected, we will appeal to ensure that the errors are ultimately rectified,” Sackheim said in an emailed statement.
Placer Superior Court Judge Michael W. Jones presided over the jury trial in the civil court case.
The jury determined if the property had been entitled and developed as planned, its value would have exceeded $12 million, Ochrach said in the release.
Donyne Ranch LLC and East Lincoln Associates LLC, both plaintiffs, are owned by Donald E. Wharton of Lincoln, according to state documents.
This story was originally published July 15, 2025 at 2:05 PM.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story used incorrect terminology to describe a civil jury verdict.
