OTHER NEWS - March 13, 1993

Hill Williams Development Under Investigation: Orange County’s supervising deputy district attorney for major fraud, Pete Huelfenbeck, said his Santa Ana office is assisting the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in an investigation of Hill Williams Development Corp. For more than three years, the Anaheim Hills company collected nearly $90 million from about 5,000 investors, claiming that the money would be used to build and sell houses. Earlier this month, Hill Williams and its four fund-raising partnerships filed for liquidation under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Last week, the state Department of Corporations filed a civil complaint against the company accusing it of operating “a classic Ponzi scheme,” in which new investors’ money covered the monthly returns sent to earlier investors.