The counter-lawsuits filed by Ken Mattson and Tim LeFever will likely take months to resolve. In the meantime, LeFever is waging a public campaign to win over investors that he says may have been defrauded by the companies built by the two lifelong friends.
That effort was evident in an “open letter,” addressed to Mattson, that LeFever sent this week to a group of investors he has organized through an email group he calls “Mattson Inquiries.”
“I certainly hope that you will come clean on what you have done and make arrangements to reimburse your victims because this is the right thing to do,” LeFever wrote, in the email, a copy of which was obtained by The Press Democrat. “In the meantime, you should consider the consequences as your many lies start to unravel.”
Repeated attempts by The Press Democrat to reach Mattson over the last two days have been unsuccessful.
LeFever sued Mattson for fraud, breach of contract and fiduciary duties, and other violations in Sonoma County on June 6. The same day, Mattson sued LeFever for unfair competition, illegal denial of access to corporate documents and other breaches in Sacramento County.
LeFever’s lawsuit has a case management conference scheduled for October 24, before Sonoma County Judge Oscar Pardo. Mattson’s case management conference in Sacramento isn’t scheduled until April 25, 2025.
In his letter, LeFever repeats many of the accusations he has made about Mattson for longer than a month now, including hearing from many investors who told LeFever of “losing everything as you came back again and again to take their retirement savings, the proceeds from the sale of a home, their inheritances.”
LeFever echoed previous claims that Mattson has admitted his wrongdoing in private conversations, and that LeFever reported his longtime business partner to both the federal Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“In recent weeks I have been forced to do things I previously could not have imagined,” LeFever wrote.
He also added some interesting perspective on the sudden unraveling of a partnership that had amassed hundreds of real estate properties worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
“In recent weeks, you have drifted back and forth between remorse and defiance,” LeFever wrote. “On May 6, 2024, in one of the more remorseful moments, you called me and apologized. You said there was no explanation for what you have done. You also said that you would liquidate everything and that you were just asking for the ability to sit with each person, tell them what you have done, and make it right.”
Mattson isn’t known to have done any of those things to date.
LeFever also provided salient details about the 17-page indemnity agreement Mattson signed in February. That agreement forms the basis of Mattson’s civil suit against LeFever. In that complaint, Mattson asserts he was pressured to sign “on the spot” and under duress, and without reading the document.
The agreement, it turned out, included “egregious terms” such as a clause requiring Mattson to pay for any legal costs relating to settling investor claims, and another waiving his right to a jury trial. Mattson insisted he never received a signed copy of the indemnity agreement.
“These claims leave me a bit confused,” LeFever wrote in his open letter. “You can find a copy of the signed agreement in your email outbox. You signed it and sent it by email to me and to our general counsel in January.”
The LeFever Mattson company’s general counsel, Scott Cameron Smith, was also present at the board meeting at which Mattson signed the document and is now a company director.
“The unsigned agreement had been delivered to you six days earlier with a statement that does not suggest coercion or duress,” LeFever continues. “The email we sent reads: ‘Here is the indemnity agreement. Please sign and return when you have a chance. Thank you.’”
In his letter, supposedly written to his old friend but circulated to an audience of investors — many of which are now weighing further legal action — LeFever encourages Mattson to avoid such litigation.
“I write this open letter to encourage you to take the steps that might avoid at least some of the costly courtroom drama,” he wrote.
His message also carries an implied threat. LeFever encourages victims to tell their stories, saying these stories “could be a significant motivator for you to do the right thing.” LeFever suggests he might begin to air the dirty laundry he collects.
“With the permission of these victims, I will share some of those stories,” he said.
LeFever’s level of culpability in the apparently massive investment irregularities, and his fiduciary duty as a 50% partner in LeFever Mattson, are unclear at this point. But there is no doubt that as Mattson remains silent — he did not respond to a request for comment on this story — LeFever is taking the offensive.
“Denial and distractions may delay,” he wrote to Mattson and to their investors, “but not forever.”
You can reach Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @Skinny_Post.
