In Santa Fe, New Mexico, Hollis Vane, 67, died of a stroke in a private dining room at the Candelaria Club three days before sentencing in a fraud case involving imaginary lakefront property.

Mr. Vane sold parcels in a development called Blue Mercy Shores. Brochures showed docks, walking trails, herons, families in linen, a boathouse, and a lake described as "seasonal." According to court documents, the lake did not exist seasonally or otherwise.

Many of his clients were elderly. Several invested retirement money. One couple sold a house in Nebraska. Mr. Vane's attorneys argued that he believed the development could become real if sufficient capital was raised. Prosecutors used the phrase "geographically impossible."

Mr. Vane was born Hollis Vangelisti in Reno and changed his name in 1988. He owned eleven watches, four framed maps, and a mahogany desk too large for every office he put it in. In the top drawer, investigators found a fountain pen, antacids, two passports, and a child's drawing of a lake with no water in it.

He is survived by his third wife, Brielle; by one son, Graham, who had not spoken to him in eleven years; and by several hundred people who are not expected to recover their savings.

On the wall of his dining room was a hand-painted sign that read, THE FUTURE IS A PLACE YOU BUY BEFORE OTHERS SEE IT.

The sign has been taken down.