AGA hearing postponed until February

The preliminary hearing for three Northern California men accused of running a vast real estate Ponzi scheme has been postponed until February.

The hearing for James Koenig of Redding and former Santa Rosa investment advisors Gary Armitage and Jeffrey Guidi was supposed to start next Tuesday.

At least one alleged Sonoma County victim in the case, Kathleen Adams of Healdsburg, was scheduled to testify at the hearing.

But Adams, who estimates she and her husband lost at least $400,000 she invested with Armitage?s AGA Financial, learned Friday the hearing has been postponed to Feb. 24.

The delay was requested by Koenig?s new attorneys, who were hired by an insurance company that covered his company, Asset Real Estate & Investment of Redding, according to an e-mail from the Attorney General?s Office.

All three men were arrested May 21, accused of securities fraud and bilking more than 2,000 investors, many of them elderly, out of more than $200 million in various land deals.