Water Machines That Didn't Exist: SEC Says Ryan Wear's Water Station Raised $275 Million, Including From Veterans

Published Oct. 12, 2026. Case statuses are current as of that date, based on SEC records.

Investors were told they were buying water-vending machines that would earn them revenue. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, thousands of those machines did not exist or had already been sold to someone else.

On Aug. 14, 2025, the SEC charged Ryan Wear of Marysville, Washington, and his entities Water Station Management LLC and Creative Technologies, Inc. with running two related Ponzi-like schemes between September 2016 and February 2024 that raised more than $275 million from more than 250 investors [1]. In a separate action, the SEC also charged portfolio manager Jordan Chirico of Carmel, Indiana [1][3].

What the SEC alleges

According to the complaint against Wear and his companies, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York [1][2]:

• Scheme one. From September 2016 through September 2023, the defendants raised more than $165 million, mostly from retail investors including veterans, by selling investment contracts in which investors supposedly bought water machines that would generate revenue. Thousands of the machines, the SEC says, did not exist or had already been sold to other investors.
• Scheme two. Between April 2022 and February 2024, they allegedly raised more than $110 million from institutional investors through Water Station notes purportedly secured by water machines. Again, the SEC says most of the machines did not exist or weren't owned by Water Station.
• The money. The defendants allegedly misappropriated more than $60 million to make Ponzi-like payments and to fund Wear's other businesses, including Refreshing USA, LLC and Ideal Property Investments LLC, which are named as relief defendants. A relief defendant is not accused of wrongdoing but allegedly holds investor money.

Wear's scheme "ensnared hundreds of investors, including veterans who were solicited with higher guaranteed returns and exclusive financing options," said Corey Schuster, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division's Asset Management Unit [1].

The portfolio manager

The SEC's separate complaint alleges Chirico breached his fiduciary duty to a private fund client by directing it to buy Water Station notes without disclosing his significant personal investment in the business, and by increasing those investments despite red flags that some of the machine collateral may have been fabricated [1][3].

Charges and status

Both complaints charge antifraud violations. The SEC seeks injunctions, civil penalties, disgorgement from defendants and relief defendants, and an officer-and-director bar against Wear [1][4]. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced parallel criminal charges against Wear and Chirico [1]. Both are presumed innocent of those charges unless proven guilty. We found no later SEC judgment on sec.gov as of Oct. 12, 2026.

What an SEC civil case is (and isn't)

The SEC is a civil regulator. When it "charges" someone, it files a lawsuit in federal court or brings an administrative proceeding asking for remedies such as injunctions, repayment of allegedly ill-gotten gains (disgorgement), civil money penalties and industry bars. It cannot send anyone to prison. Criminal charges, when there are any, are brought separately by federal prosecutors, and a defendant in a criminal case is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Allegations in an SEC complaint are claims the agency must prove in court unless a defendant settles. When a defendant settles "without admitting or denying" the allegations, the court or the Commission enters an order, but the defendant has not conceded that the allegations are true. Throughout this article, statements about what happened are allegations or findings as described by the SEC, not established facts, unless we say a court entered a judgment or a defendant pleaded guilty.

Red flags in this case

• 'Guaranteed' returns tied to machines you can't personally locate or inspect.
• Special 'exclusive' terms pitched to a group such as veterans.
• Collateral that has never been independently counted or verified.

How to check an investment before you hand over money

• Look up the person and the firm on Investor.gov and FINRA BrokerCheck. A clean search is not proof of legitimacy, but a missing or mismatched record is a reason to stop.
• Read the offering documents yourself, and ask a fee-only professional you found independently to read them too.
• Be skeptical of "guaranteed" or fixed high returns. Real investments carry risk, and promises of safety plus high yield are a classic warning sign.
• Be wary of pressure. Deadlines, "limited allocations" and repeated calls are sales tactics, not investment analysis.
• Don't let trust in a group replace due diligence. Fraud often spreads through churches, ethnic and professional communities, online chat groups and friends-of-friends referrals.

If you think you were affected

1. Keep everything: account statements, emails, texts, wire and payment records, and any marketing material.
2. Report it to the SEC at sec.gov/tcr. If a criminal case is involved, you can also contact the FBI at ic3.gov or the prosecutors' victim-witness office.
3. Watch for a receiver or fair fund. In some SEC cases, money is later returned to harmed investors through a court-appointed receiver or a distribution fund. Notices are posted on sec.gov.
4. Beware of "recovery" offers. People who lost money are often targeted again by scammers promising to recover it for an upfront fee. Legitimate receivers and the SEC do not charge you to file a claim.

Case status (as of Oct. 12, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 12, 2026	Source
Ryan R. Wear, Marysville, Wash.	U.S. District Court, S.D.N.Y. (SEC civil)	Sued Aug. 14, 2025; no later judgment found on sec.gov. Parallel criminal charges announced; presumed innocent	[1], [4]
Water Station Management LLC; Creative Technologies, Inc.	U.S. District Court, S.D.N.Y. (SEC civil)	Sued Aug. 14, 2025; litigation pending	[1], [4]
Jordan Chirico, Carmel, Ind. (portfolio manager)	U.S. District Court, S.D.N.Y. (separate SEC civil action)	Sued Aug. 14, 2025; no later judgment found on sec.gov. Parallel criminal charges announced; presumed innocent	[1], [3]
Refreshing USA, LLC; Ideal Property Investments LLC	S.D.N.Y.	Relief defendants only (not accused of wrongdoing)	[1]

Statuses can change. SEC allegations are claims, not findings of wrongdoing, unless a court has ruled.

Sources

1. SEC Press Release 2025-107, "Founder and Owner of Washington-Based Water Machine Manufacturer and Two Companies Charged in $275 Million Fraud Scheme," Aug. 14, 2025. https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025-107-founder-owner-washington-based-water-machine-manufacturer-two-companies-charged-275-million-fraud
2. SEC complaint, SEC v. Wear et al. (S.D.N.Y.). https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/complaints/2025/comp-pr-2025-107-wear.pdf
3. SEC complaint, SEC v. Chirico (S.D.N.Y.). https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/complaints/2025/comp-pr-2025-107-chirico.pdf
4. SEC Litigation Release No. 26375, Aug. 15, 2025. https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/litigation-releases/lr-26375

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