HONOLULU – United States Attorney Clare E. Connors and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Steven Merrill announced today that Richard Patterson, also known as Xavier Carter, 40, was arrested on February 11 in California pursuant to an indictment in the District of Hawaii. Patterson, Dashawn Hill, 46, and Judy Ramos, 52, all former residents of Hawaii, were charged with Conspiracy and Wire Fraud, and Patterson and Ramos also were charged with money laundering. Patterson made an initial appearance in court in the Central District of California. Ramos and Hill have not yet been arrested.
The indictment alleges that beginning by at least in or around July 2015, the defendants participated in an “advanced payment scheme.” One or more of the defendants solicited upfront payments from victim-investors that would purportedly be used to generate much larger sums of money for the victim-investors after a short period. The upfront payments were not invested and had no reasonable possibility of generating the promised return. To perpetuate the scheme, the defendants falsely represented that they were wealthy financial professionals, and that Patterson and Hill owned a financial institution that was properly registered in Switzerland. At times, Patterson used a fictitious alias, “Xavier Carter” and spoke with a fake accent.