Vulnerable immigrants conned into spending life savings on worthless land in California City

[Demovictory9]

Silver Saddle now sits closed and remains in state receivership following a lawsuit slapped on it by the California Department of Business Oversight.

Along the way she spoke with several people, many of them immigrants, who had invested upwards of tens of thousands of dollars in land sales deals only to come away with empty wallets and shattered dreams.

“I went looking into Silver Saddle and spoke with a number of people who invested with Silver Saddle, all of whom had very similar stories of what had happened to them there,” Guerin said, including how those people had felt they had been pressured into buying investment products they barely understood.

https://laist.com/podcasts/california-city.php

California City
Deep in the Mojave Desert, there is a little town with a big name and a bizarre history: California City. For decades, real estate developers have sold a dream here: if you buy land now, you’ll be rich one day. Thousands of people bought this dream. Many were young couples and hard-working immigrants looking to build a better future. But much of the land they bought is nearly worthless. In this new podcast from LAist Studios, host Emily Guerin tells a story of money, power and deception.

https://www.curbed.com/2019/5/31/18639098/california-city-failed-utopia-ghost-town