San Luis Obispo developer, felon loses appeal

March 21, 2026

John Belsher and Ryan Petetit-Wright

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

Former San Luis Obispo developer Ryan Petetit-Wright, who is currently serving a five year prison sentence for conspiracy to commit fraud, lost his appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Petetit-Wright pleaded guilty in 2024 to conspiring with his partner John Belsher and SLO County Supervisor Adam Hill to deprive local citizens of honest services through a pay to play scheme. In addition to five years in prison, the court sentenced Petetit-Wright to three years supervised release.

In his appeal, Petetit-Wright attempted to remove a condition of his supervised release that requires that he not engage with any “business involving loan programs, telemarketing activities, investment programs or any other business involving the solicitation of funds or cold-calls to customers” without a probation officer’s prior approval.

During his Nov. 15, 2024 sentencing  hearing, Petetit-Wright said he was not aware the court was considering the conditions. The judge then twice offered Petetit-Wright a continuance so he could review the proposed conditions, consider them, and formulate objections.

Wright twice declined, actions the appellate court noted in its rejection of his appeal.

During his change of plea hearing, Wright admitted “that he twice directed an investor to pay a bribe, repeatedly used company money to pay bribes, and sometimes solicited money from investors to recoup those costs.”

The appellate court found a link between “Wright’s offense conduct and the occupational restriction on loan programs, telemarketing activities, soliciting
investments, and other jobs soliciting funds.”

Wright also argued the conditions were vague, an argument the appellate court found meritless.

“A person of ordinary intelligence, not to mention a sophisticated financial criminal, would read ‘not engage, as whole or partial owner, employee or otherwise’ as obviously covering acting as an independent contractor, consultant, or board member,” according to the appellate court.

Petetit-Wright was a managing member of PB Companies and had served as the company’s CEO until Dec. 2015. Petetit-Wright and  Belsher started out big with more than a dozen projects they valued at over $300 million.

Under their PB Companies’ name, they 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.

San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Adam Hill on John Belsher and Ryan Petetit-Wright’s semi-private jet

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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