Some Northwest Airlines pilots were looking for ways to make up for the steep pay cuts they were facing in 2005 when they learned of a "foreclosure rescue" plan promising them extra cash while helping struggling people hang onto their homes.

Two years later, the pilots' credit ratings and their finances are in ruin. Several have been sued by some of the homeowners they tried to help.

All told, the six pilots and one flight attendant sank more than $1.5 million into two real estate ventures, some of them taking out second mortgages on their own homes and raiding their savings for the cash. Their attorneys say they are another set of victims in the string of mortgage fraud and equity stripping cases that investigators continue to uncover in Minnesota in the housing bubble's aftermath.

The foreclosure venture and related real estate investments are the subject of a federal criminal investigation, and total losses could exceed $2 million.

Mindy Conradi, a 45-year-old pilot from Chanhassen, said she got involved largely because of the endorsement of senior pilot Larry Maahs, who introduced her and some colleagues to Timothy Beliveau of Mound.

Beliveau, 39, was seeking investors for the businesses that he operated with his wife, Shelley, 36, a real estate agent.

Conradi said Maahs, a DC-9 captain, personally vouched for Beliveau, who was related to Maahs' daughter by marriage.

"We trusted him," Conradi said of Maahs. "Unfortunately, because we trusted him, we trusted the Beliveaus, and we shouldn't have trusted anybody."

The Beliveaus could not be reached for comment for this article. They have invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination in some recent civil suits, declining to testify on the advice of Peter Wold, an attorney they retained for the criminal investigation. Wold declined to comment.

Legal action

In August, the Beliveaus disclosed in a letter to a Hennepin County district judge that "due to the number of foreclosed homes we were involved with" a federal criminal investigation has been started.

Maahs, 62, has retired and moved to Florida. He could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Joel Hilgendorf, said Maahs considers himself a victim. In May, Maahs and his wife won a $628,832 default judgment against the Beliveaus and their companies.

Court records show that the investigation is being led by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigative Division.

The probe spun off from an alleged equity skimming conspiracy involving Michael Fiorito, 39, of Prior Lake. Fiorito, who recently pleaded guilty in federal court, used to work with the Beliveaus, according to a source with knowledge of the case.

Some pilots said Tim Beliveau exuded success. He lived in an expensive home, dressed well and drove a Lexus. Conradi said he entertained her and other investors on a Lake Minnetonka cruise and took them to Lord Fletcher's Old Lake Lodge.

Northwest pilot Tom Martin said he borrowed $235,000 against his home to invest with the Beliveaus. "This was supposed to be a win-win deal for everybody," said Martin, a 44-year-old Duluth-area resident who flew with Maahs and said Maahs set up a meeting for him with Beliveau.

Beliveau had his lawyer, Ryan Simafranca, explain the foreclosure prevention program, Martin said. "That is what convinced me that everything was legitimate."

Simafranca's attorney, John Lundquist, said his client did nothing more than provide legal services to a Beliveau-owned company. Jurors in a recent civil case found him liable for helping the Beliveaus strip $55,000 in equity from a Thai woman's home in Brooklyn Center.