Wholesaler lied about a property situation and is keeping my non-refundable deposit

[Jonathan Wiley]

Looking for a little help, 

I have purchased several properties from wholesalers, done over 20 personal deals, and work at a wholesale brokerage in AZ where I have acquired and sold almost 100 transactions in the last few years, so I understand what a non refundable deposit means but this situation is very different than what the wholesaler presented. 

A quick summary: I was presented with a property near where I live in California that had a tenant in place and a month to month lease and a small deposit with the owner of the property. I was told in writing before signing the contract that the tenants were current with payments and were paying $2,000 a month on time every month. A 60 day notice was to be delivered upon signing of the contract and putting in the $10k hard EMD with the title company (which was written on the assignment contract and never completed).

When we get to the pre-close walk through that the wholesalers tried to avoid us getting, the brother answers the door. He was expecting an insurance agent/adjuster of some kind and not the new soon-to-be owners and had no idea about the sale, which was suppose to close in 2 days. (Never receiving his 60 day notice which was suppose to be delivered 21 days ago). The wholesale rep had no idea that we were suppose to be lying about who we were and neither did we. 

The kicker: besides them never following through with delivering the notice, is that the brother has no lease written or otherwise. Hasn't been paying $2,000 a month and there never was a deposit (I have in writing that the lease documents were going to be delivered to me before close and still have nothing). The brother actually thinks he has rights to ownership (even though he is not on title) and he owns the property with his sister and has been paying the bills and living there for 9 years. His metal shop that he works out of is in the garage. He also refuses to allow us our pre-close walkthrough which is written in the original contract that we were assigned, as the right of the final buyer to approve or disapprove of the sale.

On my way home the manager of the wholesaler calls yelling and cursing at me, telling me I knew I was suppose to be pretending I was with some insurance company. I was with my girlfriend and my 1 year old. I know these shady dishonest things happen all the time but I had no idea what they were trying to do. 

I have no interest in being thrown into a family feud and a battle of ownership with potential for a California eviction. What can I do? The title agent says they need written cancellation from the wholesalers and this guy is telling me he would rather hold it hostage and let it expire in 7 years and let it go to the state rather than signing off. He tells me he's just going to sell it to someone else and let escrow just sit so I can never get my $10k back. 

What can I do? Put a lien on the property? Try and get the brother to put a lien on it to stop the next sale until this joker signs off? The wholesaler isn't licensed so I can't report him to DRE.

Any help is greatly appreciated but please don't just say "you should talk to an attorney" I already reached out last night. 

Thank you,

Jonathan