Everett woman held in massive fraud
Published 9:00 pm Friday, August 3, 2001
By Scott North
Herald Writer
SEATTLE — An Everett woman was arrested Friday and is facing a 30-count federal indictment after she allegedly bilked investors out of more than $5 million.
Sandra Lucille Crist, 49, had operated a Mill Creek investment business called SanMar &Associates.
The federal charges, filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, are the result of an investigation by the FBI and the securities division of the state Department of Financial Institutions, assistant U.S. attorney Jeff Coopersmith said.
"This was a long-term investigation. The state of Washington securities division did a lot of hard work to get this to happen," he said.
Crist is charged with 11 counts of mail fraud, 11 counts of securities fraud, six counts of wire fraud and two counts of bank fraud. The indictment alleges that Crist engaged in illegal fraudulent investment activities from 1994 to the present, Coopersmith said.
State securities officials in October ordered the company to cease operating after determining that SanMar Associates was taking investors’ money for fictitious securities.
"Some of the investors are elderly persons who have invested significant portions of their savings with Crist," state officials said in the order. "Some of the investors have borrowed money on credit cards in order to finance their investments."
SanMar engaged in "hard money" lending, loaning money to borrowers who were unable to qualify for conventional bank financing but who could provide a deed or other security interest in exchange for a high-interest loan.
The indictment alleges that Crist presented investors in her company with forged deeds that supposedly secured their investment, Coopersmith said.
Crist was arrested Friday morning by the FBI.
The maximum sentence for mail fraud and wire fraud is five years in prison, while the maximum punishment for securities fraud is twice that long. The maximum for bank fraud is 30 years behind bars.
You can call Herald Writer Scott North at 425-339-3431
or send e-mail to north@heraldnet.com.
