SEC Files Emergency Action Against Owner and Carter Bain Wealth Management
Posted on 08/15/2021
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed an emergency action against Martin A. Ruiz of New York (age 45), and two entities he controls, Las Cruces, New Mexico-based Carter Bain Wealth Management, LLC (Carter Bain) and RAM Fund, LP (RAM). Shortly after filing the complaint, the SEC obtained a temporary restraining order and asset freeze against Ruiz, Carter Bain, and RAM to stop an allegedly ongoing fraudulent securities offering through which Ruiz and his entities allegedly misappropriated millions of dollars from investors.
According to the press release, the SEC complaint was “filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on Aug. 6, 2021, and unsealed Aug. 12, 2021, Ruiz induced at least 56 investors, many of whom are elderly clients of Ruiz’s New Mexico-based investment adviser Carter Bain, to invest at least $10.6 million in RAM by falsely claiming that their funds would be used to acquire real estate and to make commercial loans. According to the complaint, however, Ruiz misappropriated the vast majority of the investors’ funds to support his lavish lifestyle by, among other things, paying for his residences in Manhattan and Santa Fe, covering millions of dollars in credit cards bills, and making student loan payments. The complaint also alleges that Ruiz hid the fraud from investors by making Ponzi-like payments, and providing investors with false valuations concerning their RAM investments.”
Carter Bain Wealth Management, LLC was founded in 2004. Ruiz is a 1994 graduate of Deming High School, and alumni of De Pauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. A large number of the investors reside in or near Deming, New Mexico. Martin Adrian Ruiz was arrested on August 12, 2021. Ruiz faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Ruiz allegedly concealed his misappropriation by making Ponzi-like payments to some investors and providing investors with false valuations concerning their RAM investments. Carter Bain Wealth Management has approximately $61.6 million of assets under management in advisory client accounts. Carter Bain Wealth Management is also registered as an investment adviser representative in New Mexico and Texas.
Special Agent-in-Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh said in a DOJ press release: “As alleged, with more than $8 million in misappropriated funds, Ruiz acted with impunity while building his own personal investments. Ruiz allegedly padded his lavish lifestyle by defrauding investors, many of them elderly working-class retirees, out of their life savings. No one should live their own version of ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’ by swindling others out of their hard-earned money. HSI New York’s El Dorado Task Force worked closely with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York to see that Ruiz will now face the consequences of these alleged actions.”
