The former CEO of medical device startup S-Ray has been found dead after missing a sentencing hearing for wire fraud over his misuse of investor money. Stephen Baird, 69, was expected to see many of the 200 investors he defrauded of a combined $10.75 million in US District Court for the Western District of Washington on Friday, reports KIRO. He failed to show, prompting Judge Richard Jones to issue an arrest warrant. Baird was ultimately found dead near his home in Terrebonne, Oregon, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday, per the Seattle Times. It didn't provide further details or a cause of death.
Baird had pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in May. Beginning in 2012, he'd defrauded investors by making false statements about S-Ray's product development, US Attorney Tessa M. Gorman said. At one point, he allegedly claimed S-Ray had obtained FDA authorization to market a dental device when it hadn't. Prosecutors said 200 investors lost a combined $10.75 million, and Baird spent more than half of that sum on personal and family expenses, including a waterfront property on Washington state's Bainbridge Island, Gorman said.
Some investors lost their full retirement savings, per KIRO. One elderly investor was forced to choose between medications and daily necessities, according to a DOJ release. Prosecutors wanted Baird to spend seven years in prison and pay more than $10 million in restitution. He was also "facing civil penalties worth more than $6 million from a Securities and Exchange Commission civil case that began in March 2022," per the Times. The Justice Department said it will now file a motion to dismiss the criminal case, though "the government will still pursue all available financial remedies on behalf of the victims," reports MyNorthwest.com. (More CEO stories.)
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