By Laurence Darmiento | LA Times
When Blake Whitmore pays his mortgage every month on his Marin County home, he winces. The elevator mechanic and father of two young children can barely afford the $3,400 he must pay his lender.
The hefty mortgage payment is a painful reminder of a $200,000 investment he made in 2019 in a business recommended by a friend. The venture promised big returns from acquiring film rights and selling them to Netflix and other platforms in Latin America, but Whitmore lost all of his money, forcing him to refinance his home to pay off the debt.
A recent federal lawsuit alleges that the bank helped to bankroll convicted felon Zachary Horwitz, 37, who perpetrated a scheme that fleeced hundreds of investors.
Read more at: LA Times