On May 20, 2025, an El Dorado County jury found William Matthew Ames, a Cameron Park resident, guilty of three felony counts of Fraud in the Offering of a Security and Three Felony counts of Grand Theft by False Pretenses.
Between the years of 2015 and 2018, Ames operated a complex and sophisticated investment scheme in which he solicited dozens of El Dorado County residents by making untrue statements of material facts to entice them to invest.
To legitimize this fraud, he drafted contracts that he and his victims signed which contained misrepresentations as to his percentage of ownership, that he had ownership at all, and that funds would be used to further the product he was soliciting. Ames followed this with numerous lies about where the product was in development, product sales, and overall product viability. He lied about clinical trials, buyouts by major retailers, sales numbers, and patents to further lull his victims from seeking a return of their money in the years following the investments.
During the trial it came to light that Ames forged bank statements in which he drastically increased his own bank balances to induce investors, lied about income he was receiving and assets he had to position himself as financially well off, and had been soliciting and collecting investments from El Dorado County Citizens as early as 2014. Evidence presented at trial, showed that investor money did not go towards product design, development, marketing, equipment, materials, or anything related to the products Ames was soliciting. It also was revealed that the owner of these products had no knowledge that Ames was using their products name to solicit investments.
Over the years he took in in more than $175,000 under these false contracts and misrepresentations which he spent on himself.
The jury found true a White-Collar Enhancement due to the pattern of related felony conduct involving elements of fraud and that the amount stolen exceeded $100,000.
The jury also found the crimes were aggravated in that they involved sophistication, professionalism, and planning, a victim who was particularly vulnerable, and finally, that the loss involved great monetary value.
The crime was prosecuted by a Deputy District Attorney assigned to the El Dorado District Attorney’s Special Prosecutions Unit tasked with prosecuting economic crimes and was investigated by the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office and then later by an investigator with the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office. The trial was heard over a four-week period in Department 2 by the Honorable Judge Mark Ralphs.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 30, 2025, in Department 2. The maximum possible sentence for these crimes is ten years in state prison.