Former Granville Homes CFO Ryan Toncheff is alleging in a wrongful termination lawsuit<\/a>, first reported by the nonprofit newsroom Fresnoland, that the LLC transferred its ownership to entities controlled by Assemi after the sale.<\/p>\n \u201cThis personal acquisition was done out of a federal court-supervised receivership, circumventing the federally chartered lender, of which conduct Plaintiff (Toncheff) reasonably and in good faith believed constituted violations of federal and state law,\u201d the complaint says.<\/p>\n Granville has been owned solely by Darius Assemi since 2017. In recent years, as the family\u2019s farms defaulted on $700 million in loans<\/a> and began losing thousands of acres, he\u2019s asserted the housing construction company is run independently of the family\u2019s agricultural operations.<\/p>\n Toncheff is also alleging he discovered Granville is cashflow insolvent and has inaccurately represented its financial condition to lenders. His complaint says he was fired in retaliation June 10 after voicing his concerns, refusing involvement in the Mission Ranch purchase and declining to certify what he says are \u201cinaccurate\u201d financial statements.<\/p>\n Howard Sagaser, Granville Homes\u2019 attorney, said in an email that the company denies Toncheff\u2019s allegations.<\/p>\n In his own statement<\/a>, Assemi said Toncheff is a \u201cdisgruntled employee\u201d who expected expensive perks and whose work \u201cdid not justify his continued employment.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that his family\u2019s fallen farming operations were managed by his brother Farid Assemi and denied the idea his home building company is insolvent.<\/p>\n \u201cGranville Homes has been and continues to be a vibrant and financially healthy company,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Toncheff wants a jury trial and is asking the court to compensate him for damages. Granville Homes and Assemi intend to demand arbitration outside of court.<\/p>\n The Assemi family started buying Mission Ranch land<\/a> in 2013 and persuaded the City Council to allow farming<\/a> on the residentially zoned west Fresno property.<\/p>\n As a result of the family\u2019s farming troubles, court-appointed receiver Lance Miller sold the ranch for an estimated $14 million to Running Stallion Ranch LLC on Jan. 9. State business records show the LLC had been organized just weeks prior by Nader Malakan, CEO of Fresno\u2019s Malakan Diamond Company and a long-time business associate of the Assemis<\/a>. Malakan did not respond to The Bee\u2019s request for comment for this story.<\/p>\n Toncheff\u2019s complaint says he believes the deal was set up for Darius Assemi to become the land\u2019s owner while keeping his involvement \u201cout of the public record.\u201d Darius Assemi used between $14 million and $16 million of Granville Homes\u2019 operating cash to make the purchase through Running Stallion, the complaint alleges.<\/p>\n Toncheff also alleges Assemi \u201cheld sole authority to approve\u201d outgoing wires at Granville Homes, so the money to buy the ranch could not have been used without his OK.<\/p>\n Running Stallion later transferred its membership to entities \u201cowned or controlled\u201d by Assemi, including Photo Finish LLC and Grass Valley Bluffs Inc., the complaint alleges.<\/p>\n Toncheff says in his complaint that he used methods employed by commercial lenders to evaluate Granville Homes\u2019 financial condition and found it doesn\u2019t have the cash to pay all of its debts \u2014 which include not only Granville Homes\u2019 obligations but also those of its affiliated, land-holding entities.<\/p>\n The company has not disclosed to lenders a full picture of those debt obligations, Toncheff\u2019s complaint alleges.<\/p>\n \u201cNo single lender had visibility into the full aggregate debt burden,\u201d the complaint says.<\/p>\n In his statement, Assemi said the home building and land development industries are \u201cexperiencing difficult conditions.\u201d But he added Granville Homes has remained financially healthy through the \u201cdisposition of certain assets and the acquisition of others.<\/p>\n Granville Homes alleges ex-CFO trying to \u2018improperly extort money\u2019<\/p>\n In May, after he says he told the company he found it to be insolvent, Toncheff alleges he was \u201caccused of producing inaccurate or distorted work\u201d and was \u201csubjected to humiliation.\u201d<\/p>\n He was stripped of CFO duties, placed on administrative leave \u201cwithout explanation\u201d and then fired June 10, Toncheff alleges.<\/p>\n In a document demanding arbitration<\/a>, Assemi and Granville Homes are accusing Toncheff of \u201cmisuse of the judicial process to improperly extort money,\u201d among other claims. The document says arbitration is required by a previous contractual agreement between Toncheff and Granville Homes.<\/p>\n It questions Toncheff\u2019s qualifications, alleges he repeatedly failed to perform CFO duties and accuses him of using artificial intelligence to generate \u201dinaccurate and misleading data.\u201d It also alleges he told other staff \u201che should be gifted\u201d homes by the company and \u201cgiven ownership interest\u201d in it.<\/p>\n Matthew Ruggles, attorney for Toncheff, called those accusations against Toncheff \u201cbogus.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe contend those are all legally fatally flawed and will almost certainly all be dismissed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n![\"Developer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AVRy5.So.8.jpeg\" "\\"AVRy5.So.8.jpeg\\"")
Developer Darius Assemi of Granville Homes stands on the Mission Ranch property west of Highway 99 on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013 in Fresno, Calif. Assemi family members had bought the land that year through one of their farming LLCs and were allowed to grow crops on the residentially-zoned space by the Fresno City Council. Granville Homes said then that it hoped to build housing on the land in the long-term. THE FRESNO BEE Mission Ranch sold to LLC<\/p>\n
![\"Profile](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6743EEF5-FFCA-4EF4-A26A-CF3830F06743.JPG\")