SLO real estate developer faces more federal charges connected to Texas real estate scheme
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – San Luis Obispo-based real estate developer Ryan Wright, already facing charges for almost $100,000 in bribes to a County Supervisor, has been named in a superseding indictment announced on Thursday alleging a scheme to defraud investors through a Texas real estate project.
According to the Department of Justice's press release on Thursday, the superseding indictment adds 14 counts of wire fraud, three counts of attempted bank fraud, and one count of access device fraud.
Ryan Wright, also known as 'Ryan Petetit', has a trial date for his original charges scheduled for May 14, 2024, but no arraignment has been scheduled on the superseding indictment state the Department of Justice.
The fraud scheme detailed in the superseding indictment announced on Thursday relates to a proposal to develop luxury homes in Dripping Springs, Texas, a city west of Austin in Hays County explain the U.S. Attorney's Office.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, from October 2021 through October of 2023, Wright allegedly solicited funds for the real estate project and used those funds to pay for criminal defense attorneys retained in connection with his bribery investigation as well as personal expenses.
The indictment alleges that Wright continued to solicit investor funds even after the real estate deal collapsed in August of 2022 raising approximately $2 million over the two-year span detailed above.
Wright is also charged with fraudulently seeking over $24 million in financing for the real estate deal after the project fell apart including opening an account in the company's name and temporarily inflating it with funds not intended for the project to deceive a lender into believing the company had sufficient cash to close on a loan detail the U.S. Attorney's Office.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the indictment further alleges that Wright fraudulently obtained a line of credit in 2023 using a business associate's credit rating to obtain access devices, in this case, credit cards.
Wright is alleged to have fraudulently accessed around $450,000 in this manner, some of which was spent on "Las Vegas hotel rooms, sporting events, plastic surgery, and payments to criminal defense attorneys retained in connection with the government's federal corruption investigation" states the indictment.
The corruption and obstruction charges from the initial indictment remain in the superseding indictment explain the U.S. Attorney's Office and are tied to more than $95,000 in bribes to a San Luis Obispo County supervisor who advocated for Wright's company's project while serving on the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors.
That initial indictment also alleges that Wright allegedly attempted to obstruct the federal investigation into these bribery allegations including causing his company to provide falsified business records in response to a federal grand jury subpoena detail the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Wright is currently in custody after being ordered detained after his arrest in October of this year state the U.S. Attorney's Office.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the corruption conspiracy count carries a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison, the obstruction of justice count has a maximum sentence of 10 years, and the falsification of records count carries up to 20 years.
For the superseding indictment, the wire fraud counts have a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years, the attempted bank fraud charges carry a maximum sentence of 30 years, and the maximum sentence for the access device fraud charges is 10 years detail the U.S. Attorney's Office.
