Less than a year after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed fraud allegations against SiliconSage Builders, an investment firm from California’s Saratoga has bought multiple properties once owned by the now-bankrupt developer.
The office building and adjacent apartment property, located at 510 and 518-528 S Mathilda Avenue in Sunnyvale, were bought by Sam Cloud Barn, an affiliate of Bay Area real estate investor Shawn Taheri, for $6.45 million, the Mercury reported. Teheri’s group was able to buy the properties with the help of a $2.67 million loan from Citizens Equity First Credit Union.
The Mathilda Avenue properties are only part of the Bay Area real estate portfolio that belonged to SiliconSage and the company’s head, Sanjeev Acharya. He faces multiple charges that he committed fraud against hundreds of investors, particularly those of South Asian descent.
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The complaint against SiliconSage claimed the company falsely told investors that some interest payments came from the firm’s profits, although they actually were from new investors. It also said that despite telling investors they could redeem capital after a year, Acharya “repeatedly declined capital redemption requests from certain investors” because he didn’t have enough money.
SiliconSage’s properties are being marketed for sale by David Stapleton, a receiver who was authorized by a federal court to try to raise money to return to those who were defrauded. Stapleton faces a number of obstacles. In at least one case, a lender is threatening to foreclose on the property in which it invested to seize ownership.
Other SiliconSage properties linked to the fraud cases that have recently been bought include office and retail units in the Madison mixed-use development on El Camino Real in Santa Clara and the One38 Apartment complex in downtown San Jose. The Santa Clara properties sold for $2.6 million and the apartment building on Balbach Street was bought by an investment firm for $53.5 million.
[Mercury] — Victoria Pruitt