Assisted Living Firm Sued

Rainmaker Managed Living, a developer of assisted living facilities with operations in California and New York, was accused Tuesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission of defrauding investors.

The company raised more than $7 million since August 2004 and promised investors a guaranteed return of 25% a year, the SEC office in Los Angeles said. More than half of the money was misappropriated for personal use, with some of it being paid back to the investors as purported interest, according to the SEC’s civil suit.

A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order against the defendants, including chief sales agent James Joseph Conway, 50, of San Pedro, who operated out of Rainmaker’s Long Beach office.

The order also applies to New York law firm Furman & Dilmaghani, which had promised to pay investors out of its revenue until the assisted living projects became profitable, the SEC said.

The judge also issued an order freezing the defendants’ assets, but the SEC said the amount was still undetermined. At least 20 Southern Californians had invested in the alleged scheme and at least 70 investors nationwide had put money in, said Diana K. Tani, assistant regional director of the SEC in Los Angeles.

A call to Rainmaker’s New York office after business hours wasn’t returned. Calls to Conway and defendant Alireza Dilmaghani of the New York law firm also were not returned.