A Washington State Man Faces Decades in Prison Over Alleged $275 Million Fraud Scheme

A Washington state man is facing decades in prison over his alleged involvement in $275 million fraud scheme.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York kicked off parallel legal actions against Ryan Wear last week.

The SEC alleges Wear operated two related Ponzi-like schemes between September 2016 and February 2024, raising over $275 million from more than 250 investors.

The regulator claims Wear used two corporate entities, Water Station Management LLC and Creative Technologies, Inc., to target retail investors and veterans by selling $165 million worth of “investment contracts” that supposedly purchased water machines that would generate revenues.

However, thousands of the promised water machines didn’t exist or had already been sold to other investors, according to the SEC.

Wear is also accused of running a similar and related scheme, targeting institutional investors to raise $110 million in exchange for Water Station notes purportedly secured by water machines. But like his first scheme, the SEC says most of the water machines were either fictitious or no longer owned by Water Station.

Wear also allegedly misappropriated more than $60 million worth of the funds to make Ponzi-like payments to other investors and fund other companies.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged Wear with one count of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The SEC seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and civil penalties against Wear, as well as a director and officer bar.

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