Illinois Investment Firm Lost Millions for Clients
Investors and creditors in the now defunct Illinois-based Commercial Mortgage and Finance (CMF) investment company are owed $63 million, of which only a fraction has been recovered. Among its various lines of business, Rockford-based CMF made residential and commercial loans and sold certificates of deposit (CDs) and mortgage backed-investments. The FBI and state authorities have accused the onetime head of CMF, Anthony D’Agostino, of running the company like a Ponzi scheme from 1997 to 2008. He did this by selling promissory notes and certificates of participation, says a Dec. 11, 2012,