How a group of investors wronged by Bay Area real estate mogul became God's answer to our own prayers'

"For the hundreds of people who powered the investment business of LeFever Mattson Inc. the main real estate investment entity, which eventually encompassed around 200 real estate properties valued at an estimated $400 million the past 20 months have been a wearying montage of lost income, vanished retirement funds, bankruptcies, claims forms and tightened belts. But a small set of investors has found solace in an unlikely source. They have turned to one another. Two years ago, they were strangers."

"Despite Mattson's convincing promises of a retirement free from financial worry, Santa Rosa resident Maria Crane observed, she and her husband, Stephen, would have been better off just leaving their money in the stock market. We would have been better off leaving it in a sock drawer, fellow investor Tom Mack quipped. The laughter that overtook the room was like the release of a pressure valve. You know there's been healing, Stephen Crane observed a little later in the afternoon. Because we laugh."

Ken Mattson faces federal accusations of wire fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice. Hundreds of people who invested with LeFever Mattson Inc. powered a business that grew to around 200 properties valued at an estimated $400 million. Over the past 20 months many investors experienced lost income, vanished retirement funds, bankruptcies, claims processes and tightened budgets. A smaller group of affected investors has met regularly, mostly via Zoom nearly every Saturday morning for a year and a half, to pray and offer mutual support, and have gathered several times in person for potlucks, finding solace and moments of healing through shared community.

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