Briefly in the news

The U.S. attorney’s office on Thursday indicted three men -- two of

them from Costa Mesa -- on charges of running a $2.6-million investment

scam that allegedly used investor funds to buy automobile loans,

officials said.

Paul Jerome Booth, 73, and James Cunningham, 44, both of Costa Mesa,

along with 50-year-old Donald Lee Roat of Waldport, Ore., allegedly spent

investors’ money on themselves, officials said.

Booth and Cunningham formed CBN Financial Resources Corp. in June

1997. Roat joined them later that year. Officials said the business, also

known as Trans Lending Co., was initially run out of Cunningham’s Costa

Mesa home but later moved to Huntington Beach.

Prosecutors allege that the men used their company to sell nine-month

promissory notes to investors, who typically made a minimum investment of

$25,000 after being told the notes paid 10% interest.

Officials said between July 1997 and November 2000 about 50 people

invested about $2.6 million. Officials at the U.S attorney’s office say

authorities are seeking to expose similar scams in Orange County.

The three defendants have been charged with nine counts of mail fraud

and one count of money laundering. If convicted, each faces up to 55

years in federal prison.