Zions and Western Alliance Bank Sue Two Prominent SoCal RE Investors for $160 Million in Loan Losses
November 14, 2025
Bob Coleman
Founder & Publisher, Coleman Report
Fraud Friday — Zions and Western Alliance Bank Sue Two Prominent SoCal RE Investors for $160 Million in Loan Losses
Last month, Zions Bank stunned Wall Street when it revealed a $50 million charge-off tied to real estate loans in California.
The disclosure came from its subsidiary, California Bank & Trust, called “apparent misrepresentations and contractual defaults by the borrowers.”
The market reaction was immediate. Zions stock fell more than ten percent in a single session, and the tremor spread through the regional banking index, dragging down shares of lenders from Phoenix to Salt Lake City.
That sense of unease was captured in a single remark from JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon talking just the week before about the TriColor auto fraud that impacted his bank. “When you see one cockroach, there are probably more,” he said.
“Everyone should be forewarned of this one.”
Zions executives insist the loans were isolated and the borrowers atypical.
The Defendant
Continuum Analytics, a Newport Beach real-estate investment firm tied to Cantor Group funds, is now facing a federal spotlight after the loan defaults drew attention from both lenders and investigators.
The firm, which specialized in complex commercial-property investments, had positioned itself as a sophisticated player in the distressed-assets space.
Zions on October 15 sued Cantor Group fund guarantors Andrew Stupin and Gerald Marcil, among others, to recover more than $60 million in soured commercial and industrial loans. The next day, Western Alliance flagged that it had sued the pair and a different Cantor fund in August to recover nearly $100 million.
On September 11, FBI agents arrived at Continuum’s Newport Beach offices to execute a federal search warrant according to Reuters.
No criminal charges have been filed.
The Setup
Zions’ California Bank & Trust originated the loans back in 2016 and 2017—a series of transactions totaling roughly $60 million—to funds operating under the Cantor Group name, including Cantor Group II and IV. Western Alliance Bank followed with similar financing, later claiming exposure near $99 million.
The court filings claim the following collateral conversion. Loan covenants stated the lenders were to be in first position on loans. But, lenders suggest otherwise:
Andrew Stupin — The Laguna Beach Operator
Andrew Stupin denies all wrongdoing. His attorney, Brandon Tran, issued a statement: “My clients vehemently deny all the allegations… These claims misrepresent the facts. We are confident that once all the evidence is presented, our clients will be fully vindicated.”
Stupin has been described by Reuters as a long-time California real-estate investor and guarantor of commercial property loans. Public records show he has been associated with 36 entities over roughly 23 years, most of them limited-liability companies tied to property investments.
At a Laguna Beach city-council meeting in May 2023, Stupin told attendees he had been “doing real-estate ventures for almost 50 years” and had lived in the area most of his life. His portfolio, spanning Los Angeles to San Francisco, included funds that purchased and repackaged distressed commercial mortgages. Reuters even noted an unusual sideline—ownership of a high-school touch-football club team.
Then came the lawsuits. Zions and Western Alliance were first, but they weren’t alone. Reuters and other outlets reported that Stupin is tied to more than $270 million in troubled debt—including five lawsuits from Banc of California, Enterprise Bank & Trust, and Nano Banc, totaling about $108 million, and the Zions/Western Alliance cases accounting for another $160 million.
According to The Real Deal, Stupin is accused of guaranteeing roughly $115 million in loans backed by properties near Los Angeles and San Francisco. The lawsuits allege that collateral was quietly transferred, subordinated, or foreclosed without notifying the lenders—actions that erased first-position liens and left the banks unsecured.
In the Zions complaint, the bank claims the borrowers carried out “a sweeping betrayal of trust by sophisticated financial borrowers who abused CB&T’s confidence, manipulated loan structures for their own enrichment, and systematically eliminated the collateral protections that were supposed to secure the bank’s loans.”
Gerald Marcil — The Landlord King of Los Angeles
As in Stupin’s case, Brandon Tran, counsel for both men, rejects the allegations outright against Gerald Marcil, insisting they are “unfounded and misrepresent the facts.”
Marcil, often called “Jerry,” built his reputation over five decades as a Los Angeles developer, broker, and landlord. Educated at the University of Southern California, Marcil became President of Property Dynamics, Inc. in 1980 and Palos Verdes Developers in 1983.
A Real Deal special report credits Marcil with 7,000 housing units in his portfolio, calling him a fixture of the Southern California multifamily market. He’s also a prominent political donor, supporting the Nathan Hochman campaign for L.A. County District Attorney.
Now, the same newspapers describe him differently. The Real Deal headline read: “Landlord Gerald Marcil Accused of Defrauding Banks.” Another outlet labeled him “the man who made Jamie Dimon worry about a wave of commercial mortgage fraud.”
Marcil’s name appears alongside Stupin’s in multiple suits by Zions and Western Alliance, each alleging that the Cantor Group’s funds—controlled or backed by the two men—misrepresented collateral positions, shuffled ownership, and concealed prior foreclosures.
