Missing Man Charged With Fraud Seattle Investor Faces Lawsuit, Unusual Charges In Alleged Scheme

A Seattle real estate investor and radio personality accused of bilking investors has been charged with radio fraud in federal court.

Michael T. Martin also is being sued by at least one investor in his Mullan, Idaho, cafe and drug store venture. An Edmonds, Wash., nurse is suing Martin to recoup the $75,000 he borrowed using the Mullan buildings as collateral.

Martin disappeared from his Seattle home last week, leaving a note saying he had defrauded investors. FBI agents believe Martin embezzled money from more than 20 people.

A complaint filed Friday in U.S. Magistrate Court accuses the 43-year-old Seattle native with radio fraud, a little-used charge, said Burdena Pasenelli, FBI Seattle special agent in charge.

The charge is related to information Martin provided listeners during his radio show and solicitations of investments he promoted on the air, Pasenelli said.

Martin apparently disappeared sometime Monday after leaving a two-page note at his Seattle real estate office apologizing for embezzling more than $100,000 from clients. In the note, Martin also pledged to pay back the money, saying he would need three years to do it.

In the lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court, Theresa Aldridge said Martin lured her into investing $75,000 in two buildings in Mullan, as well as $11,839 in the renovation of a West Seattle house.

Aldridge later learned the buildings were not Martin’s to use as collateral and that they were being foreclosed on. A plan to sell the Seattle house that called for Aldridge to get part of the proceeds also fell through, said her lawyer, Brady R. Johnson.

Since May, others have obtained four judgments totaling nearly $125,000 against Martin in the same court, some by default.

Seattle FBI agents searched his Michael T. Martin Real Estate offices and home Wednesday. They have been looking for him since.

Washington state real estate and securities investigators have joined the FBI’s investigation, Pasenelli said. Pasenelli asked that anyone with information about Martin call a local FBI office.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: VEHICLE The FBI has advised other agencies, including the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Department, that Martin may be driving a white Ford van or a green Oldsmobile Aurora. The 15-passenger van has Washington plate 458-HUO and the car Washington plate 775-HXB.

The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Brian Coddington Staff writer The Associated Press contributed to this report