PLEASANTON — Sheryl Lawless spent months in 2023 chasing Kenneth Mattson round.
The Sonoma-based businessman, she says, owed her $25,000 for promoting her father’s prized possession — a 1971 Datsun 240z — by means of his Pleasanton automotive consignment store.
Fed up, she filed complaints in opposition to Mattson with the Alameda County District Legal professional’s Workplace and the California Division of Motor Autos. Solely then did she get her cash, however the ordeal nonetheless gnawed at her.
When Mattson’s Specialty Gross sales Classics closed final yr, she stated she sat again and watched “the beginning of the end” for Mattson. Then, final month, the federal authorities swooped in and arrested and indicted Mattson on a slew of fees.
“It took a while,” the Pleasanton resident stated, however she now counts herself among the many quite a few victims relieved to see a person accused of rampant fraud dealing with justice.
“I’m glad that it happened,” she stated lately at her Pleasanton residence. “I’m in a happier place. I was really pissed off about what he put me through.”
Mattson is now accused of working a Ponzi scheme by means of a number of companies; after opening the primary in 2002, he acquired over $10 million in startup capital from at the very least 19 authentic buyers. Lengthy accused of defrauding individuals within the Sonoma and Napa space, the indictment claims, Mattson scammed at the very least $24 million out of at the very least 75 victims, however individuals with losses might quantity within the “hundreds,” in accordance with authorities.
Specialty Gross sales, which additionally had places in Fairfield and Benicia, isn’t talked about within the federal indictment, nevertheless it had been the topic of Higher Enterprise Bureau complaints over late or defaulted funds.
9 such complaints have been filed with the bureau between September 2021 and March 2024; all of them allege that the consignment store didn’t make funds inside 30-60 days of sale and element examples of the proprietor not returning telephone calls, in accordance with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
Data present single money owed run as excessive as $95,000 for a Corvette bought 4 years in the past. It’s unclear if any of the complaints have been resolved, the Press Democrat reported.
Although shuttered final yr, the store on First Road close to downtown Pleasanton continues to be emblazoned with the Specialty Gross sales log. When it was open, it housed a wide range of classic, fashionable and unique automobiles, from Mustangs to Camaros, Lamborghinis, Firebirds, Corvettes and extra.
“The guys who worked there were awesome. I don’t hold them responsible,” Lawless stated. “They were embarrassed. I really felt for them.”
However for weeks after her automotive — painted silver with a black stripe and purple leather-based inside — bought, the employees saved telling her that solely Mattson touched the cash and that such delays in cost occurred steadily, she stated.
However when Mattson lastly paid her, she stated, he nonetheless required her to pay a small wire switch charge – one thing she sees as a slight.
“I’m glad that it’s hopefully going to be coming to an end,” Lawless stated. “I’m glad that I got my money, but it’s really small potatoes compared to what he did to them.”
Sheryl Lawless, left, and her brother Jim Lawless discuss each other from the porch of her residence in Pleasanton, Calif., on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. Lawless fought for a $25,000 cost for her late father’s 1971 Datsun 240Z, which she bought by means of the Specialty Gross sales Classics automotive consignment store in Pleasanton in 2023. Specialty Gross sales Classics’ former proprietor, Kenneth Mattson, a Sonoma actual property investor, was federally indicted final week on a number of counts of wire fraud and different fees associated to a supposed Ponzi scheme he operated by means of his actual property companies. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group)
One witness, a 50-year-old Sonoma lady who filed testimony in federal courtroom information in opposition to Mattson, stated her father, Robert Rhoads, continued to take a position giant sums of cash with Mattson nearly till his loss of life in February 2024.
“The worst part is that my dad admired and trusted Mr. Mattson,” she wrote in courtroom information. “He gave him every penny he had almost up to the day he died because he trusted that Mr. Mattson had his financial best interest in hand.”
Rhoads even mentioned giving one other $100,000 from his deathbed to Mattson to take a position, with out realizing the fortunes he invested with Mattson have been by no means totally on the books, in accordance with courtroom information.
One other 75-year-old retired sufferer wrote that they’re returning to the workforce, after investing over $1.5 million with Mattson, “not knowing he was using my investments for his own benefit.”
“Now I face going back to work, checking every nickel and dime I spend, and selling my belongings to make ends meet. I am typically an optimist in life but this has impacted me in ways as never before,” they stated in courtroom paperwork. “He needs to face the consequences of his actions.”
Lots of Mattson’s victims in courtroom paperwork shared tales of regular checks coming in at first from Mattson, noting they have been “reassured” their cash was secure with him. Then abruptly the checks stopped coming they usually stopped listening to from Mattson. A number of victims had emptied their retirement funds to take a position with Mattson, and have been left to fend for themselves with little cash left to scrape by.
Mattson, 63, is a Sonoma resident with a spouse and 4 kids, with some grandchildren, in accordance with courtroom paperwork.
Prosecutors argued in courtroom after Mattson’s Might 23 courtroom look that he was a flight threat due to his “access to untraceable or unknown assets,” resembling giant sums of money, together with over $9,000 present in his automobile when he was arrested.
The federal indictment additionally alleges Mattson started deleting “thousands of files” from his information after discovering out in April 2024 that the Securities and Trade Fee was investigating his companies.
Mattson’s legal professionals have been adamant in courtroom information that he ought to be allowed to submit bail and that the courtroom is treating him in another way than different related defendants accused of “worse fraud.”
“At this point, the allegations against Mr. Mattson are just that – allegations,” Mattson’s attorneys wrote in courtroom paperwork. “The government already has gotten a number of facts wrong.”
