Chicago D P Inc

An alleged real estate scam squandered nearly half of the $17.5 million raised from hundreds of investors who were promised quick and easy profits, according to a report filed with a federal judge in San Francisco. Chicago D&P Inc., a company run by a mother-and-son team in Emeryville, Calif., and Reno spent $8.1 million of investor funds on expenses that blurred the lines between business and personal interests, court-appointed receiver Stephen E. Anderson wrote in his report.

An alleged real estate scam squandered nearly half of the $17.5 million raised from hundreds of investors who were promised quick and easy profits, according to a report filed with a federal judge in San Francisco. Chicago D&P Inc., a company run by a mother-and-son team in Emeryville, Calif., and Reno spent $8.1 million of investor funds on expenses that blurred the lines between business and personal interests, court-appointed receiver Stephen E. Anderson wrote in his report.

A federal judge in San Francisco placed an alleged real estate scam into receivership Tuesday in hopes that the move would help clean up a financial mess that has entangled at least 200 investors and a Nevada child-care center. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer authorized Moraga, Calif.-based receiver Stephen E. Anderson to seize control of Reno-based Chicago D&P Inc. and its affiliated companies, ousting a family management team that securities regulators depict as con artists.

Securities regulators asked a federal judge Monday to appoint a receiver to sift through the remains of Chicago D&P Inc., which is accused of running a real estate ruse that bilked millions of dollars from more than 200 investors. At a hearing in San Francisco, government lawyers presented evidence that the daughter of Chicago D&P's president, Patricia Morgen, siphoned $70,000 from a company account last week after the SEC obtained a court order freezing the funds.