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The man who coined the term banana bread and invented the term “bread” is no longer in business.
Mike Beren is now in hiding.
The former owner of the popular bakery in San Francisco’s Financial District, Mike Brien, has been under investigation for nearly two decades.
He is accused of lying to federal agents about the origins of the breads he sold, and of forging an invoice that appears to be a fake.
In a video released Tuesday, Breen says that he has “never done anything that would violate the law.”
He says that the accusations against him are part of a conspiracy against him, and he has filed a civil lawsuit against the federal government.
The bakery, located at 1234 Mission Street, is the only one in San Franciscans financial district to be targeted for prosecution.
Its owner has been indicted on multiple counts of lying and fraud, and his business was subject to several government investigations and seizures.
The investigation began after the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint alleging that Breen defrauded investors and consumers in a $10 million stock-based loan.
The complaint alleged that Beren sold $100 million worth of the loan securities in January 2019 and that he failed to file annual financial reports.
Beren, who is in his mid-50s, told The Daily Beast that he never lied to federal investigators, and that there was nothing illegal about the loans.
He said that he sold the loan to his friend, Mark Mathers, for $5 million and used that money to buy a home.
The sale of the home netted the loan about $20 million.
Mathers sold the home to Beren, and Beren then sold the rest of the mortgage for $30 million to a bank that did not hold the loan, according to the complaint.
Breen’s attorney, Robert J. Cohen, told the San Francisco Chronicle that Brenns attorney, Matthew Breen, never served as a federal agent.
He also said that the lawsuit filed by Cohen against Breen alleges that Brien is a “con artist” who “fraudulently concealed the true origin of his breads” and who “deliberately defraused” investors and other consumers of the “loans.”
