Embattled real estate mogul Ken Mattson confronted in Sonoma park as frustrated investors seek answers

A Press Democrat reporter who had been alerted to a possible confrontation saw Mattson, dressed in a black track suit, toss a set of car keys to his wife, Stacy. He walked a half-block to 1st Street West in silence and climbed into the passenger seat of their black GMC Yukon, which Stacy Mattson had pulled from the parking lot to the street.

He didn’t acknowledge the Wake Up Sonoma members.

Nor did he reply to a Press Democrat reporter who recorded video of the scene and requested an interview. Mattson hasn’t spoken to the press in over two years.

Gitsham said a number of people had emailed her, requesting to sign on to her open letter, but she hadn’t set up a mechanism for adding electronic signatures.

Gitsham, 47, has known Ken and Stacy Mattson since she was in high school. It was Ken who first invited her to attend youth group at a church in her hometown, Fairfield, she said.

He had been a volunteer serving on church staff at the time, and Stacy had attended the church’s youth group.

“Many of those I attended youth group with had parents who’d invested with Ken. We all trusted him,” Gitsham said.

Over three decades, she remained close to Ken Mattson. She even asked him to be a pallbearer at her father’s funeral in 2023, but it didn’t work out.

“I miss my father terribly, but I’m so glad he passed before this whole situation came to light,” Gitsham said. “He would have been devastated to learn that his life savings were stolen by someone he trusted as much as Ken.”

Over several decades, Mattson and LeFever amassed a California real estate portfolio of several hundred properties, valued at an estimated $400 million. At least 120 of those properties were in the Sonoma area.

A rift developed between the lifelong friends a year ago, with LeFever ultimately accusing Mattson of selling nonexistent interests to unknowing investors and funneling at least $75 million to his own accounts.

The FBI searched Mattson’s Sonoma home last May, and several federal agencies are investigating the alleged fraud.

LeFever Mattson and 60 related corporate entities have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the company is attempting to compel Ken Mattson and KS Mattson Partners into bankruptcy as well.

Dozens of local properties owned by the defunct partnership, or by Mattson and his company, are now for sale or pending approval for sale.

The last time Gitsham saw Mattson in person was Memorial Day 2024, when details of the LeFever Mattson breakup were only beginning to surface. Mattson came to her mother’s house and sat at the dining room table. Gitsham’s mom, who had always been a bit wary of the investment adviser, came armed with questions.

Mattson, according to Gitsham, looked shaken as he insisted to the family he’d been wronged by LeFever.

Gitsham was so concerned for her mentor and family friend, and so convinced he needed spiritual help, she flew her pastor to Northern California to meet with Mattson.

“My mom prays for Ken and Stacy every night,” Gitsham said. “I can hear her in her room.”

Gitsham prays for them as well — and also “for God’s justice,” she said.

Matt Treger, who invested with Ken Mattson over a period of more than 15 years and now lives in San Diego, where he works in executive coaching and leadership development, also read Fairbank’s comments with interest. But he did not endorse Gitsham’s open letter.

Treger said he very much supports that effort, but the religious focus of the message didn’t resonate with him.

Still, he couldn’t resist hitting send on his own email to the attorney.

“Since you mentioned Ken is doing everything he can, can you fill us in on those efforts?” Treger wrote to Fairbank.

He did not receive a reply.

Treger helped Crane build the 255-member email list, and he communicates frequently on that channel. “Not one person has indicated they have received any distributions or information,” he said.

The Press Democrat reached out to Fairbank and, again, to Mattson for a response and received no reply by Tuesday evening.

Focusing on unfulfilled promises, Treger also pointed to a letter Tim LeFever sent to investors in late June 2024, in the early stages of this ongoing saga. In that communication, Mattson’s former partner revealed that the LeFever Mattson company had begun selling off properties in its portfolio, that “proceeds have been paid to investors” and that everyone would be kept apprised of these sales.

No one in the investor email group has received any those proceeds, either.

You can reach Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @Skinny_Post.