2 Held in Investment Fraud Case

The co-owner of a San Fernando Valley real estate investment concern believed by authorities to have defrauded 500 clients of $100 million was arrested Tuesday on charges of grand theft, money laundering and securities law violations.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said the suspect, businessman Stanley I. Glickman, 54, of Beverly Hills, was one of the masterminds behind a scheme that victimized many prominent Westside investors, including relatives of the company’s operators.

Authorities said the company Glickman once ran, Encino-based Property Mortgage Co., went into a downward spiral around 1983 that led to an involuntary bankruptcy filing in 1991.

Also arrested Tuesday was Glickman’s brother-in-law, Jeffrey A. Fine, 46, of Hollywood Hills. Fine worked as a salesman for Property Mortgage.

Together with SLGH Investments, an affiliated company, Property Mortgage placed investors in real estate deals. When the business went sour, it degenerated into “basically a Ponzi scheme,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Brent Collier said.

“They were paying off old investors with new investors’ money,” he said. “They eventually got to the point where they weren’t taking in enough money to pay off the old investors.”

Both men were in custody pending the posting of bail. Lawyers for the defendants could not be reached for comment.

Still being sought by authorities was 78-year-old Elliot R. Fine of Beverly Hills, Glickman’s father-in-law and Jeffrey’s father, as well as a partner in Property Mortgage. Officials said they plan to arrest him when he returns from a vacation.

Also charged is Jeffrey Fine’s younger brother, Steven B. Fine, another salesman for the firm. The defendants face terms of eight to 12 years in prison if convicted, Collier said.