SEC v. Martin Adrian Ruiz, et al. (2021)

Alleged — pending

These are allegations. SEC has filed an action; nothing in it has been proven, and the respondents have not been found liable. Everything described on this page is what the regulator alleges, not what a court has found. See our editorial policy.

Checked against the primary document on October 4, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.

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In August 2021 the SEC filed an emergency action against Martin Ruiz and his entities Carter Bain Wealth Management and RAM Fund, alleging he took at least $10.6 million from 56 investors, many elderly, by claiming the money would buy real estate and make loans, and spent the vast majority on his lifestyle. A court froze assets.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency	SEC
Release number	LR-25165
Date filed	2021-08-13
Court	U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
Status	filed
Criminal parallel	Yes: sentenced (Martin Ruiz), U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, 2022-06-23
Sentence	6 years
Defendants	Martin Adrian Ruiz (individual) ; Carter Bain Wealth Management, LLC (entity) ; RAM Fund, LP (entity)
Cited as charged or alleged	Advisers Act s.206 ; Exchange Act s.10(b) and Rule 10b-5 ; Securities Act s.17(a) (statutes and rules cited in the document; not a finding that they were violated)
Techniques

What was ordered

Civil penalty: —
Disgorgement: —
Prejudgment interest: —
Total relief: —
Alleged gain: —

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

The SEC announced the order on August 13, 2021 (LR-25165) in the Southern District of New York, the complaint filed August 6. It says Ruiz hid the fraud with false valuations and some Ponzi-like payments.

The Ponzi tag is removed because the release is headed an offering fraud, with Ponzi-like payments a concealment detail. The status was unknown and is now filed, and "et al." is replaced by the named parties.

Partial outcome: the Commission's November 10, 2022 settled order against Martin Ruiz (File No. 3-21099) states that he pleaded guilty in the Southern District of New York to an Advisers Act count and conspiracy to commit securities fraud and was sentenced to 72 months with $10,925,770.09 in restitution. It does not report a civil judgment, and no civil outcome for Ruiz, Carter Bain or RAM Fund was found. Checked on 2026-10-04: no final outcome for the matter as a whole was found on the SEC litigation release or administrative proceeding pages, so the status stays filed.

Timeline

2021-08-13 Litigation release published
2022-11-10 Commission order records Ruiz criminal sentence of 72 months (IA-6185)

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Record added September 10, 2026. If this matter has since resolved, been withdrawn or been dismissed, we want to know: submit a correction.