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William Hogarty, 49, the owner of a now-defunct Pleasanton firm that allegedly bilked homeowners out of tens of thousands of dollars has had his name added to the lawsuit against the firm.
Hogarty declared bankruptcy in 2011, which blocked him from being added to the lawsuit, which was filed by former clients who say he and the company’s employees defrauded them. Hogarty ran OF Lending, claiming the company could do short-pay refinancing to help people who owed more than their houses were worth. OF Lending went out of business in January 2011, but not before dozens of people put up money in last-ditch attempts to keep their homes.
“He’s been added to the case,” said Pleasanton attorney J.R. Richards. “We’re seeking damages against him personally for liability, for fraud and misrepresentations he made to his clients.”
Richards said the lawsuit asks for $90,000, but that the court could also award up to three times that in penalties.
Hogarty, the founder and CEO of OF Lending, and his employees promised to work with banks to reduce mortgages and lower monthly payments, according to the lawsuit. Instead, the lawsuit says, Hogarty and his employees pressured potential clients into putting up money, then did little or nothing.
His bankruptcy filing was denied by mutual agreement after prosecutors discovered Hogarty had failed to disclose accounts at 16 banks and financial interest in five companies, two homes and property, including a 97-foot yacht, U.S. Bankruptcy Court documents show.
On his website, Hogarty said he bought the yacht in 2006 and owned it for five years.
“We were sad to see her go yet with a career change we had to bring our overhead down,” he said on the website.
Court documents say Hogarty earned $2 million over the course of two years, but instead reported to the Internal Revenue Service and the bankruptcy court that he lost $160,000 in income in 2010 and filed a tax return in 2009 — when he made $1.4 million — claiming that he’d earned $337,975.
Hogarty refutes the documents from bankruptcy court, saying the attorney in the case, Maggie McGee, didn’t know the difference between gross income and net income.
“Between 2009 and 2011, my income was $200,000,” Hogarty said, blaming McGee for a vendetta against him.
“The accusations she had were horrific,” he said.
He also said the IRS has cleared him of any wrongdoing.
“I went through an exhaustive IRS audit,” Hogarty said. “The IRS found me in full compliance with the law.”
In January 2010, Hogarty appeared on a Bay Area television show, “View from the Bay,” where he touted his company, saying he’d saved one woman $370,000 by doing a short-pay refinance. On the show, Hogarty advised people to never submit false or untruthful information.
“The truth is always best,” he told the show’s hosts.
Court documents show Hogarty, under penalty of perjury, testified and provided documents that left out information about his earning and property.
At a bankruptcy hearing with creditors in February 2011, Hogarty testified under oath that he owned no interest in the home he was living in at the time, a 12,978-square-foot mansion, with eight bedrooms, a 12-car garage and swimming pool.
Hogarty also testified in the February 2011 hearing that he’d had no bank accounts for “two or three months,” and that he had no money, although one creditor pointed out that Hogarty and his wife had taken a vacation to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico two weeks before the bankruptcy hearing.
He said any vacation he took during that time was paid for by a family member.
“I think there’s a big rumor out there that I have a big bag of money,” Hogarty said. “There’s no money.”
He apparently avoided a perjury charge by agreeing to the facts laid out in the case, but by doing so, he opened himself up to the lawsuit.
Twenty-two people have claims under the lawsuit that now includes Hogarty. Virtually every employee of the company was named in the suit, including both Hogarty’s wife, Christy, and his ex-wife, Micaelanne Hogarty — along with James Riviera, Tiffany Carr and Gregory Lomba. It alleges clients paid upfront fees ranging from $1,200 to $12,000, for the company’s short-pay refinancing services.
“None of these clients were my clients. They were all agents’ clients,” Hogarty said, adding that Riviera was responsible. “He was the man behind 80% of the problems. I paid dearly for that.”
He said his personal clients tell a different story, with 100 approvals from banks for short-pay refinancing.
At the time of the 2011 hearing, at least three people had won judgments against Hogarty, totaling more than $22,000.
He said he had a “very clear six-page contract with these people. Unfortunately, some people want to claim the victim, (saying) ‘Oh, I don’t know what I signed.’ … the contract was crystal clear.”
And Hogarty said he tried to pay people back.
“I had given over $440,000 in refunds over 2009 and 2010,” he said. “The first contract has a trust fund clause. I paid all those clients back their money.”
William Tubman, the former attorney handling the lawsuit, said some of the banks OF Lending worked with called the company’s efforts “amateurish.” He said those lenders went for months without hearing back from OF Lending, which often didn’t return calls.
No court date for the lawsuit has been set.
Hogerty said the entire incident began with an accusation from a mentally ill person who had a grudge against him.
The former CEO is also due in court later this month on an attempted murder charge stemming from an incident last year in which a roommate at the mansion claimed Hogarty attacked him and tried to choke him to death.
Hogarty, who won the 2005 Mr. California Bodybuilding Championship, faces criminal charges stemming from a July 3 altercation with his roommate, John Robinson.
The Livermore mansion where Hogarty and his wife Christy lived was touted as Northern California’s answer to the Playboy mansion and was the scene of risqué parties, such as the Fallen Angels Lingerie Party and Mardi Gras at the Mansion.
“The parties, I had full compliance on,” Hogarty said, pointing out he had an ABC license.
“The only reason I was doing the parties in the first place was to support my family …. Overall, I had one goal, to make sure my parents were taken care of,” he said. “I wish these people would take a deep breath and focus on something other than me.”
I do not and will not ever believe a word that comes out of this man’s mouth. How does one forget to list all those assets in his bankruptcy filing? He blames everyone else. Obviously the bankruptcy attorney knows the difference between gross and net income. I seriously doubt his IRS audit went as smoothly as he said.
He is finally getting what he deserves.
Classic Bill Hogarty responses. Now he claims it’s a DOJ trial attorney’s fault, Maggie McGhee, that he committed bankruptcy fraud and that hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax payer money was wasted because the DOJ had to investigate to prove he was committing bankruptcy fraud. Oh wait, this all happened and all this work was done because Ms. McGhee has a “vendetta” against him. Huh, seems to me that Mr. Hogarty stipulated/agreed to have his bankruptcy case denied within a week before the DOJ was to take him to trial on the 20+ count complaint filed against him. Not WITHDRAWN, but DENIED. So now he admits bankruptcy fraud, but is trying to play the victim and personal vendetta card again. He’s a really important man to have the DOJ and their highly paid trial attorneys pursue these types of cases against him to satisfy a personal vendetta. I wonder if Maggie McGhee is also mentally ill and that this is the reason she went after him. I’m having flashbacks to when he claimed he was a victim of the Department of Real Estate when they too spent thousands investigating his fraud and sought to revoke his license. He of course surrendered it right before it was to be revoked once again agreeing that the charges/complaint filed against him were correct.
Poor Bill. I mean c’mon, with so many people having vendettas against him for no reason and since he has mentally ill people after him maybe we should cut him some slack and let him steal, commit federal perjury and bankruptcy fraud (lying about more than a dozen bank accounts, interest in real property, equity positions in other companies…………), steal trust funds, illegally accept advance fees, stiff employees, occasionally attempt to murder a person or two and some of these other indiscretions because of how hard it must be to be such a victim of so many people. If you think about it, Bill is kind of like Jesus, you know, just in case he hasn’t told you. Everyone is out to get him and he is an absolutely saint.
For the records, he actually took in millions on his mortgage relief scam, not tens of thousands. There are several hundred victims, not dozens. He absolutely positively did not pay back all the money he was legally bound to put in a trust account and stole (findings by the Department of Real Estate which caused him to surrender his license when the DRE sought to outright revoke it) and in fact the Department of Real Estate found the trust account was empty with a long history of massive amounts of business/trust funds being transferred to he and his Wife’s personal bank account. This would be the very reason the IRS was brought into the investigation because it resulted in he and his wife having millions in income and they had all the bank statements to prove it. This occurred a few years after he stole all the funds out of his employees’ 401K plan that they had contributed out of their hard earned compensation only to have him steal it all leaving them with nothing. Huh, I wonder if he reported all the money his stole from his employees then as income? Perhaps someone needs to call the IRS and suggest this be investigated too. I’m sure they also have a personal vendetta against him and will pursue it.
One other tidbit that might be of interest, Bill Hogarty was the BROKER of OF Lending. He is claiming that all these people that were scammed by his company weren’t his customers and they were the customers of his agents. Well guess what…….real estate law is very specific that every client belongs to the BROKER and not the agent. Agents handle and work with clients on behalf of the BROKER, and the BROKER is the one to properly manage all agent and client activity. Every single one of these clients was HIS, period. He knows this, but is just playing the victim/Jesus card claiming otherwise.
I wonder what new scam he’s up to now? He managed to convince hundreds of people to join ACN because it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and they were all going to make millions. Oh but then he realized he couldn’t get rich quick on the back of all these poor folks he signed up and had pay fees so he dumped the ACN gig and is now trying to dupe the same people into his newest MLM scam. I know he said ACN was God’s greatest gift and that you should trust him and spend money to join so he can get a cut, but really, this time for sure it’s the case and you will make millions if you join him even if you joined ACN being told the same.
Can this man really fall any further? Oh, and why isn’t this man in jail?
Keep up the reporting on this one PW. We don’t need this sort of human debris in our community and hopefully with his misdeeds being reported on, our friends and neighbors will decline to do any business with him and he’ll ultimately leave. I hear housing is plentiful in Detroit. He is also involved in the operation of some used car venture called “Hogarty Auto Sales” so just be mindful of his history should you consider buying a car from them.
Why is he saying and admitting he paid people back over 450k in refunds on his mortgage scam if his accepting these fees was totally legit? Is this like agreeing that you committed bankrputcy fraud when you didnt do anything wrong? He seems to be the one in need of some basic financial concepts, like understanding that writing a customer a refund check that is post dated and then bounces doesn’t mean he paid them back.
He tried to get his mortgage scam victims to sign documents that they would agree not to cooperate with investigations of him and wouldn’t publicly express their feelings that he was a crook and stole from them. If everything he did was pure and legal, why try to forbid anyone from cooperating in an investigation? But then again, it seems like these government investigative agencies have personal vendettas against him so maybe it’s understandable. Lol.
Mr. Hogarty:
My child went to school with yours so it’s known you are raising children in this community. It’s disgraceful that you are conducting yourself as you are embarassing your children and saddling them with your crimes. This will haunt them forever. Your children dont admire you, they are ashamed of you. You pretend to be the only dad at their sports activities fooling no one because it’s all the other mothers and father’s cramming the stands and spending hours of their time coaching our youth. In reality, you’re the only father that should not be there and you must know your children would prefer you stay away. Every little girl should be able to admire their father and believe they have the best dad in the world. Sadly your girls are among other children who know all about you, the crimes you’ve committed and the hundreds of people you’ve hurt so deeply. If your daughter was on my daughter’s team, I’d demand a transfer since you are a violent and unethical man. Other parents are too good to be around scum like you.
Do your children a favor and let their mother and her family take them to their sporting events, school activities and other places. You don’t hear what they say to others about you and it’s horrible that they have to have such shame for your actions and that they can’t escape you. You won’t be able to intimidate them into telling you you’re god forever.
I will continue to monitor this, but know those that run some of the girl’s sporting activities and may ask that you be banned in the best interests of your children and for the safety of the other children, families and organization staff. Those charged with attempted murder don’t belong around children.
I’m trying to be surprised by this news, but it’s not working. Is anyone surprised by any of this?
http://www.hogartyautosales.com. You’ll recognize the person in the photo that is running this place even though it’s not his mugshot. Consider yourselves warned.
Those poor children. Why doesn’t the mom get full custody to keep the kids away from this maniac? He has been charged with some sort of violent felony and so I would think the courts would be willing to limit his exposure to the children and only allow supervised conduct. What’s going on with the mom here? Is she drinking the kool aid?
I’m so confused…..
Did he admit that he held these parties for profit after telling the bankruptcy court he had no income? The parties were being held every 45 days or so right up until he was arrested for attempted murder causing his party promoter to move the location of scheduled events at this man’s house. Hmmmmm, I wonder if he reported his “naughty lingerie mansion party” income to the IRS or if he kept it from them like when he lied to the bankruptcy court. I have the transcript from the bankruptcy proceeding where he lied about his income and assets and he made no mention of his nasty party income at that time. But there are photos online of his lingerie parties that he now admits were for profit that occurred before his bankruptcy filing. But wait, the DOJ only went after him based on a personal vendetta by a DOJ trial attorney who never met Hogarty before the fraud was found and certainly not because he actually committed fraud like this.
Move away. Far, far away.
I am a bit reluctant to comment yet for years I have sat back and watched people attacke me, many who never met with me take stabs at me and most did it annomiously. I am far from perfect or a saint. Yet I am a very hard worker and driven, more than most. I have many faults and first to admit them. I guess someone who never met me wouldnt know I am the first to admit my faults. The internet has been a place to judge and attack people Not sure what people get out of it yet so be it. I feel Glenn did a fair job at both sides of the story, thank you. I am happy to discuss with ANYONE the facts behind what I have done and support with documentation. I worked for 22 years with a perfect reputation and over 100,000 happy clients I worked hard for that. When the mortgage market colapsed, it was survival without a rule book. I have been accused at taking 401k money, We paid EVERY dollar back. There was a group of 20 or so people that met weekly in an attempt to get back at me, and yes NOT one was my client and YES I was responcible for the agents whom clients they were. I have paid dearly. This group contacted the IRS, DOJ, DA and DRE. The IRS for instance, they alleged I stole trust funds and didnt pay taxes. I went through a 1.5 years audit (probably cost 150k of tax payer money, where is the accountability for the fault accusations) and found to have paid all my taxes and no tax liability. Yet on the internet whatever one is accused of, they appear to be guilty.
I am a VERY lucky guy. I have an amazing wife, amazing X wife, children, brother, parents and in laws. Yes this has been very trying and saddening to see the horrible things written yet in the end I have to focus on what I can change. I realized worrying about what people I dont know think will just waste alot of energy so I focus on my family. Again far from perfect yet progress
I paid 440k back, have the canceled checks
Have 100 approvals out of 400 filesm hardly a scam (went on national TV “we are having a hard time with approvals with 2 largest banks and a contract that was clear that no guarantee”)
This was over four years ago, and I peacefully ask that we all move on. Yes I have paid dearly, yet in the end I tried to help people and it didnt work out, yet I did not cause the collapse of the real estate market.
I went in new nothing direction with my career as real estate used to be fun, yet it wasnt any more. I love what I do now and have always believed that one shoud love what they do I still have friends in real estate and 90% hate it.
So please understand their are two sides to every story and I am ALWAYS willing to support my side with facts I am sure my responce here will result in some attack and it was a risk going to the press yet I couldnt stand back and watch the rumors fly around any more (sad how many consequences come with rumors) The DOJ accused me of horrible things, not true, yet I didnt have the money to fight any more. Attorney’s are exspensive. The DOJ did deny anything, I choise to stop fighting The world is a very challenging place (all 7 of my friends got divorces with fianancial pressure) and I hope we can move on and focus on the future
I wish you all a great day!
I am one of so many hurt and displaced by this man. He seeks to “move on” and wants everyone else to because it suits him now that we can all go after him since he can’t hide behind his fraudulent bankruptcy filing anymore. We will be going after him and we encourage others to do the same. We’ve all had our hands tied by his false bankruptcy claim for a few years and I’m thankful the DOJ saw through this and didn’t let him get away with it. I agree that his agreeing to have it declined is in fact him admitting to the DOJ charges. After lying about his assets and income to avoid paying back all of us he defrauded, now he wants us all to just “move on”.
He is admitting to stealing his employee’s 401K funds somehow suggesting it was okay because he he claims to have paid them back. Does this mean we can now all rob banks as long as we pay them back?
I’m baffled by his comment that with the collapse of the market which he apparently blames for his theft and fraud that it was “survival without a rule book”. Huh? There was definitely a rule book that he chose to ignore which is why he now doesn’t have a license and can’t legally operate in the real estate world. It’s a very narcissistic way of thinking to first blame and industry for illegal acts and then to claim there were no rules when there most definitely was. It was him breaking them that caused him to get reported to the DRE and other agencies and why they took action. By some reporting him, which he is attempting to suggest makes him a victim, saved lord knows how many more families grief had he still maintained his licenses. The DOJ ruling is no different. If all the agencies he was reported to found the complaints unfounded, they wouldn’t have gone after him. It was no vendetta, it was the proper authorities doing the proper things to protect consumers. He is no victim.
90% of all realtors do not hate their jobs. Most reputable realtors wouldn’t entertain any conversation or dealings with Bill for him to even know. Most realtors love their job and play by the rule book that Hogarty claims doesn’t exist and enjoy making their clients’ homeownership dreams come true. Many mortgage brokers whethered the storm by adapting, downsizing and PLAYING BY THE RULES, even if choosing not to like Hogarty did would have been easier. Hogarty is an embarassment to real estate community having been a part of it at one point and then having been run out of it with disgrace. He’s not one of them anymore so has absolutely no idea what they think. He’d be considered a joke among the community if what Mr. Hogarty has done to so many people had not been so painful and severe. He’s a black mark on an idsutry full of committed professionals who don’t operate outside the law as he chose to.
I really don’t care about his fantasies of the perfect family. The fact remains that he cheated on his ex wife with his current wife among others then got his current wife pregnant, threw her out of the family home while inviting another woman into his marital bed and then tried to kill a friend of his wife when he was trying to help her get her marriage on track since she was expecting his child. He’s an embaressment to his kids and causes problem on the rare occassion he makes an appearance and their school or sporting events. No other family wants to be around this dangerous man or want their kids around his because they fear for the safety of their own children. His in laws got personally sued because of yet another shady deal of his and he is now ruining his father’s good name. If this is how he treats those he feels are amazing and that he’s lucky to have, it’s no wonder he treats others as he has.
He now claims a 25% success rate on his modification scam, but before he claimed it to be much higher. When people singed up it was 8 of ten that were successful and now it’s 1 of 4. I don’t believe this number either having talked to a former employee. When you tell a customer you are successful 80% of the time to get them to pay you in excess of $10,000 when you now admit the success rate to be at best 25% (which is probably another lie), this is a scam and amounts to him defrauding hundres of people out of millions that the DOJ found he funneled to his own personal bank accounts. He most definitely did not pay back all the money he was supposed to have in trust and some of the refunds he paid were his bounced checks.
I hope Mr. Hogarty will consider expressing some remorse and apologize instead of continually lying and making himself out to be a victim. I hope he will also stop using his children as props to make himself look like a family man and to try to catch himself a break or make it so people he defrauded won’t go after him when they are better served just being left out of all of this. If he loves them, he’ll protect them instead of using them. If he can’t treat his own children with enough respect to stop using them as props, then I see no hope that he’ll ever accept what he’s done instead of still pretending to be a victim.
P.S.: His narcissism is showing itself again with his assertion that there was some kind of weekly meeting held to discuss him. While some of us did exchange emails trading information from time to time, certainly none of us think enough of Hogarty to have special meetings about him or to plot turning him into the victim he now claims to be. It was nice that we were able to meet others in the same position and that we have been able to share information with the goal of all of us getting at least something back instead of just one getting everything. It restored my faith in humanity knowing that others who were suffering were still willing to help even if it meant they’d likely receive less. This is what integrity looks like.
And if you believe anything Hogarty says I’ve got this fancy bridge . . . . . .