REAL ESTATE

Investors Win Case Against Hill Williams: A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge ordered former real estate developer Donald Hill Williams to pay $20 million to the investors, who lost about $90 million in the now defunct Hill Williams Development Corp. of Anaheim. Judge John E. Ryan’s decision settled a lawsuit filed by about 900 mostly elderly plaintiffs who said Williams defrauded them in land investment schemes. Comparing Williams to a snake oil salesman, Ryan called his operation a “classic Ponzi scheme” in which investors’ money was used to pay off earlier investors. Ryan refused to let Williams shield himself under bankruptcy laws, but attorneys said Williams may not be able to pay much of the award, which includes $4 million in punitive damages.