The owner of a water machine vending company and a portfolio manager were allegedly behind a Ponzi-like scheme that raised more than $275 million, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Ryan Wear—owner of Washington state-based companies Water Station Management LLC and Creative Technologies, Inc.—and Jordan Chirico, a portfolio manager of a hedge fund that was part of Jefferies Financial Group’s Leucadia Asset Management, were charged with fraud, the SEC said Thursday in a press release. The two collaborated in a scheme from September 2016 to February 2024 that defrauded more than 250 investors.
