Firm Named in Drug Scheme Loses Credit, Lays Off Workers

All 73 employees of a mortgage company implicated in a money-laundering ring for drug smugglers were laid off when the company’s finances dried up.

The Bank of America withdrew a $5-million line of credit, which has financed 90% of LendVest Mortgage Inc.’s business, and the Napa company Thursday fired the entire staff.

The firm was linked by federal investigators to last week’s record seizure in San Francisco Bay of 43 tons of hashish and 13 tons of marijuana, worth almost $200 million.

Federal agents quickly froze the company’s operational bank account, saying LendVest had been used to hide at least $169,000 in drug profits from a previous hashish shipment.

Several LendVest officials, including former President David Glen Hanson, also were named in Internal Revenue Service affidavits.

LendVest shareholders ousted Hanson earlier this week and appointed David Dickson to replace him. Dickson was not available for comment after the layoffs.