San Luis Obispo developer seeking financial offset for fraud

March 13, 2025

Editor’s note: CalCoastNews is referring to developer Ryan Petetit, who changed his name to Ryan Wright during the case, as Ryan Petetit-Wright.

By KAREN VELIE

After agreeing to pay restitution to a group of his victims, San Luis Obispo developer Ryan Petetit-Wright appealed the amount arguing there should be an offset for work he performed.

FBI agents arrested Petetit-Wright on Oct. 30, 2023 on a multi-count indictment regarding conspiracy and fraud. Petetit-Wright and his partner John Belsher’s business, PB Companies, paid San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Adam Hill nearly $100,000 in bribes and gifts.

Petetit-Wright pleaded guilty in Sept. 2024 to conspiring with Belsher and Hill to “deprive local citizens of honest services” through a corruption scheme. Petetit-Wright pleaded guilty to one criminal count: conspiracy.

In his plea agreement, Petetit-Wright agreed to pay restitution of between $1,500,000 and $1,906,634.

On Nov. 12, 2024, U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson sentenced Petetit-Wright to five years in federal prison. Then in January, Judge Anderson ordered Wright to pay $1,831,216 in restitution to 12 of his victims.

In his appeal of the restitution, Petetit-Wright asserts that a development project in Texas dubbed Dripping Springs, where fraudulent acts were showcased in the indictment, would have succeeded if not for the government’s interference. Specifically, Petetit-Wright contends he would have been able to complete the Dripping Springs project if federal investigators hadn’t thwarted a more than $10 million loan he had secured.

In his attempt to obtain the loan, Petetit-Wright “falsified project expenses and falsely inflated a bank account to show the project had enough cash to close,” according to prosecutors. “The truth is this claim is a manufactured, after-the-fact excuse by defendant to try and escape paying the victims of his fraud.”

Petetit-Wright is seeking $719,814 in offsets for “work performed” by him on the Dripping Springs project, according to court records. He is seeking an offset for costs, including office and administrative expenses and a due diligence fee.

Petetit-Wright, who has been in federal custody since Oct. 2023, is currently incarcerated at the low-security federal prison facility in Lompoc.

Under their PB Companies’ name, Petetit-Wright and Belsher borrowed money from banks, hard money lenders and private parties. However, they regularly failed to pay investors and contractors.

Petetit-Wright admitted that from approximately June 2014 until March 29, 2017, he and Hill engaged in a quid pro quo bribery scheme. Hill would use his official position to help the developers secure approvals necessary for PB Companies’ real estate development projects in both the county and the city of San Luis Obispo.

PB Companies allegedly paid nearly $100,000 in bribes and gifts to Hill.

While under a federal investigation, Hill committed suicide with an overdose of cocaine and antidepressants on Aug. 6, 2020.

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