Brandon “Dutch” Mendenhall, 47, and Amy Vaughn, 48, co-founded RAD Diversified REIT, Inc. (RADD), a Tampa and Port Richey, Florida-based real estate investment trust, and built it into a $152 million operation by wrapping a conventional real estate pitch in the language of faith, patriotism, and community trust. Mendenhall, who styled himself a real estate influencer and authored a book on wealth building, and Vaughn, the company’s co-founder and director, marketed RADD to more than 5,500 retail investors nationwide between November 2019 and March 2024 through an extensive campaign that used unregistered sales agents, high-pressure sales tactics, and explicit invocations of Christian values to gain investor trust. They told investors that RADD was a profitable REIT and that “zero investors have ever lost money on their investment.” In reality, RADD was suffering millions of dollars in annual losses. On July 29, 2026, the SEC filed fraud charges against RADD, Mendenhall, and Vaughn in the Middle District of Florida, alleging the two founders collectively misappropriated nearly $5 million of investor funds while running a scheme that has now collapsed into bankruptcy. Faith and community trust have been the vehicle for other large frauds, including the Orthodox Jewish community Ponzi run by Leor Moshe of Capital Funding ASAP and the fake church investments sold by Danny Salinas and Mai Nguyen.
The SEC’s complaint alleges that the defendants deceived investors about RADD’s profitability, its stock valuation practices, and its liquidity. RADD raised approximately $104 million through REIT stock offerings and another roughly $34 million through high-interest hard money loan notes and joint venture agreements sold through an “Inner Circle” program. The founders encouraged investors to finance their purchases using retirement accounts, home equity loans, credit cards, and life insurance proceeds. RADD filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 1, 2026. Mendenhall was separately indicted on a federal mail fraud charge on May 27, 2026. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who issued investigative subpoenas in July 2025, stated publicly: “This appears to be a Ponzi scheme, and with several individuals claiming they’ve been exploited, we are investigating to ensure Floridians are not being deceived by greedy fraudsters.”
A Stock Price Frozen at Its July 2023 High While Properties Went Into Foreclosure
The valuation fraud was central to the scheme. The defendants told investors that RADD’s ever-increasing stock price was based on independent appraisals or valuations of the REIT’s properties, and that the price would be regularly updated to reflect those valuations. Neither claim was true. The properties were not independently valued. The defendants never updated RADD’s stock price beyond July 2023, even as the REIT experienced widespread property foreclosures and internal findings showed the stock price was significantly overstated. Investors continued buying shares at a price that the company’s own internal analysis indicated was inflated, based on appraisals that did not exist, in a REIT that was losing money every year while presenting itself as consistently profitable. The frozen July 2023 price allowed the company to keep selling shares at a valuation disconnected from the deteriorating reality of its portfolio.
The liquidity representations were equally false. The defendants assured investors that their money would be accessible, that RADD shares could be redeemed. In practice, the company routinely denied or ignored redemption requests. In February 2024, RADD froze redemptions entirely, cutting off investors from the money they had been told was liquid. The Business Observer reported that thousands of investors now face uncertainty about recovering any of their money. RADD’s portfolio at the time of bankruptcy comprised more than 300 residential rental properties and vacant lots concentrated in Pennsylvania, Texas, and Florida, including nearly 100 rowhouses in low-income Philadelphia neighborhoods and approximately 2,282 acres of farmland in Randolph County, Arkansas.
$54M Routed to The Seminar Solution, Then Spent on Private Jets, Jewelry, and IRS Taxes
The misappropriation flowed through a separate entity. The defendants diverted approximately $54 million of investor funds to The Seminar Solution, LLC (TSS), a company owned by Mendenhall and Vaughn and named as a relief defendant in the SEC action. According to the complaint, TSS received roughly $20 million in commingled investor funds diverted from RADD’s accounts, plus about $34 million directly from investors through hard money loan notes, joint venture agreements, and Inner Circle membership fees. From those funds, Mendenhall personally misappropriated at least $2.3 million and Vaughn at least $2.5 million. The complaint details what the money was spent on: private jet charters, jewelry, high-end clothing, luxury goods, recreational activities, and IRS tax payments. The investors who were told to tap their retirement accounts and home equity to fund a profitable, faith-driven real estate company were, according to the SEC, financing the founders’ private jet travel and jewelry purchases.
A Talk Show Host’s Lawsuit, a Florida AG Ponzi Investigation, and a Criminal Indictment
The RADD collapse has generated parallel proceedings on multiple fronts. Conservative talk show host Buck Sexton, who attended a RADD conference as a paid speaker, contributed over $100,000 to the company, and allowed his name to be used in marketing through his national radio show, sued RADD in August 2025 alleging he was misled and defrauded. Forbes published an in-depth investigation in December 2025 featuring first-person accounts from former employees. The Florida Attorney General’s office opened a parallel investigation and issued subpoenas. Mendenhall’s May 2026 federal criminal indictment alleges he submitted a false and fraudulent mortgage application that overstated his personal income by representing investor deposits into affiliated funds as his own income. RADD’s bankruptcy, filed March 1, 2026, involves roughly 1,500 creditors and more than 5,000 investors whose individual investments ranged from $1,000 to $1 million. A bankruptcy examiner has been appointed.
Conclusion
Dutch Mendenhall and Amy Vaughn built RAD Diversified on a promise that no investor had ever lost money and a marketing campaign that invoked faith and patriotism to earn the trust of 5,500 people. They told those people the REIT was profitable when it was losing millions annually, that the stock price reflected real appraisals when no appraisals existed, and that their money was liquid right up until the moment redemptions were frozen. They routed $54 million through their own seminar company and spent millions on private jets, jewelry, and taxes. The Florida Attorney General calls it a Ponzi scheme. The company is in bankruptcy. Mendenhall faces a criminal charge. The 5,000 investors who used their retirement savings and home equity are in the creditor queue. Zero investors ever lost money, they were told.
