New DOJ indictment details wire and bank fraud attempts by Ryan Wright 

Criminal charges against Ryan Wright—the disgraced former executive of a San Luis Obispo development company—keep mounting as an alleged fraud scheme uncovered by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) comes to light.

Wright, formerly known as Ryan Petetit, faces a new indictment of 14 counts of wire fraud, three counts of attempted bank fraud, and a count of access device fraud relating to a plan to develop luxury homes in Texas. The DOJ released its findings in December 2023.

According to the DOJ, the new indictment supersedes and includes the three-count allegations filed in October 2023 about his bribes and gifts to then SLO County 3rd District Supervisor Adam Hill. In return, Hill reportedly eased the way for Wright's development projects at the city level and voted favorably for his company's projects as the county supervisor.

"Defendant Wright would divert investor funds to pay for personal items including a luxury Beverly Hills condominium, home furnishings, high-end restaurants, nightclubs, bars, airline tickets and hotels for holidays and recreation, strip clubs, sporting events, gym memberships, health spas, groceries, clothing, automobile lease payments, medical expenses, and insurance," the new indictment read.

The document detailed that Wright worked with two unnamed partners over the course of the fraud scheme that took place from October 2021 to October 2023. One of them hired his consulting services to assist her in a project to convert a 44-acre Texas ranch into a luxury home development.

According to the DOJ, despite knowing he was under investigation for the alleged bribery scheme related to Hill, who died in 2020, Wright solicited money for the luxury home project and funneled investors' money to pay for defense attorneys. However, he told investors that their money would be used to pay for the ranch's acquisition and development.

The indictment stated that Wright also diverted some of that money to his wife, her business, a business operating in Orange County, and another person whom the original indictment labeled as "Co-Conspirator 1."

"Defendant Wright would fail to disclose to investors that ... the contract had been terminated in August 2022 due to the buyer's breach and that the seller sued for the forfeiture of all investor funds that had been paid into escrow," the indictment read.

In total, he raised approximately $2 million from investors even after the deal failed.

"Wright is also charged with fraudulently seeking over $24 million in financing for the real estate deal after the project fell apart, which included causing an account to be opened in the company's name and temporarily inflating it with funds not intended for the project in order to deceive the lender into believing the company had sufficient cash to close on the loan," the DOJ said in a statement.

Most recently, from February to May last year, Wright fraudulently used a business associate's credit rating to get credit cards. He used those cards to spend money on Las Vegas hotel rooms, sporting events, plastic surgery, and legal services from attorneys who could represent him in the federal corruption investigation related to the bribery scheme, the December indictment said.

Wright's trial date is set for May 14. If convicted, along with the total maximum sentence of 35 years for crimes stemming from the bribery scheme, he faces an additional 80 years of federal prison time for the new charges. ∆