Ken Losch

Real-estate developer and tech-firm founder Ken Losch was indicted Tuesday March 26 2019 on 17 counts of wire fraud tied to his company, Advanced Green Innovations. Losch, who was shackled at the wrists, stood before a judge and pleaded not guilty in Arizona U.S. District Court to defrauding investors out of $37 million. Losch is best known for a failed Tempe high-rise development called Centerpoint, a twin-tower condominium that for years stood like a pair of unfinished and abandoned obelisks. The failed development exposed Losch and his partners at Avenue Communities to a chain of financial misery. Centerpoint developers borrowed $135 million from a company called Mortgages Ltd., which specialized in unconventional construction loans — until the recession hit. Then the company lost nearly all of its capital, nearly $1 billion raised from investors. Chief Executive Officer Scott Coles died by suicide in 2008. Centerpoint, which was Mortgage Ltd.'s biggest asset and investment, was doomed. Losch sought bankruptcy protection for his company in 2008. Losch also is listed as the co-founder and principal of two real-estate development companies, Avenue Communities LLC and Trillium Residential LLC.