State Regulators Pull Rug From Pacific Private Money Lending

State financial regulators have stripped Pacific Private Money of its lender license after accusations the firm had mishandled funds.

The Department of Financial Protection and Innovation revoked the license of the 28-year-old Novato-based money lending firm, Mercury News reported. Pacific Private Money, founded in 2008 by Tiburon businessman Mark Hanf, specialized in short-term bridge and hard-money loans for owners looking to buy, renovate or refinance properties.

The order follows a criminal investigation by Marin County prosecutors after Pacific Private Money allegedly stopped payments to more than 100 investors late last year. The company is being probed by multiple county, state and federal agencies looking into accusations from the investors and borrowers about mishandling funds.

The Mercury News was unable to reach CEO Mark Hanf and Chief Restructuring Officer Bill Brinkman for comment.

Pacific Private Money didn’t file its 2025 report of loan activity and business operations by March 15, as California Financing Law requires, according to regulators. The company didn’t respond to two email warnings, sent March 17 and 27, that the report was past due, the order said.

The license allows lenders and brokers to make and broker new consumer and commercial loans in California. Pacific Private Money can still handle existing loans, a financial protection department spokesperson told Mercury News.

The company has 30 days to dispute the revocation or the order becomes final.

The firm allegedly pooled investor capital to fund loans typically carrying interest rates between 8.5 and 12 percent, pitching them as real estate-backed investments offering steady returns.

Many investors in Pacific Private Money could be left high and dry after investing their retirement savings with the company, as more than $100 million of investor money could likely be lost, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

An outside contractor is now overseeing the company and has warned investors that recoveries likely will be “a fraction” of what they invested, the contractor, Bill Brinkman, said in an email to investors.

It isn’t the first time Hanf’s real estate track record has come under scrutiny.

In 2014, the California Department of Real Estate fined him and temporarily suspended his broker license for illegally commingling, placing investors’ money into bank accounts under his control instead of the trust accounts they were meant for. Hanf previously filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2007.

– Dana Bartholomew