Mary Reafsnyder married into the Knott family–of berry farm, barf-o-coaster, commie-baiting, bedrock conservatism and greasy chicken dinner fame–years ago. Now she is being accused of running a Ponzi scheme by a Knott blood relative. Walter and Marion Knott's granddaughter Maureen Sloan, who is Reafsnyder's sister-in-law, claims she lost $10.5 million in the suspected scam.
And Reafsnyder didn't have to board a train with her six-shooter to do it (allegedly). Sorry, the robbed train ride is my first theme park memory. I think I was 4.
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See also:
Friday Film Funnies Fun: Walter Knott
Fake OC Billionaire Euirang Hwang: Depression Made Me Run Ponzi Scheme
Investment Swindler Gordon A. Driver Gets Humongous Bill For Ponzi Scam
Anyway, what Reafsnyder was was a principal at Silver Oak Leasing, an auto
leasing company that, creditors claim, went missing $13 million while declaring bankruptcy. According to court papers, Silver Oak only had $3,000 in assets when a bankruptcy trustee took over the company in March.
Reafsnyder has denied any wrongdoing, but the creditors who include Sloan are so suspicious they're paying former FBI agent Gary Morley $165-per-hour to track down Silver Oak's
missing assets, UPI reports.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.