During opening arguments in a trial of Fredric “Rick” Dryer on Tuesday, prosecutors alleged that he actively duped real-estate investors out of their money for his own self- promotion.
Dryer’s defense countered that while the founder of Mile High Capital Group may have engaged in negligence, mismanagement or breach of contract, his actions were not criminal.
“This is a civil case that’s dressed up as a criminal prosecution,” said defense counsel Patrick Ridley of Ridley, McGreevy & Weisz PC.
Prosecutors, led by Joseph Morales, chief district attorney in the Denver district attorney’s economic-crimes unit, allege that Dryer’s Englewood-based Mile High Capital Group LLC defrauded hundreds of investors out of $38 million in real-estate investments.
Dryer faces 61 felony counts in the Denver District Court trial, which is expected to take three weeks. If convicted, he faces up to 24 years in prison for each count.
In her statement to Judge Anne Mansfield and the jury, Deputy District Attorney Kandace Gerdes painted Dryer as a wealth-chasing, power-hungry charmer whose investors’ money went to “promoting who he wanted to be.”
Gerdes stressed Dryer’s past felonies in the ’80s, one in Wisconsin and one in Boulder; neither was disclosed to investors.
She said Dryer spared no expense in his quest to gain success as a businessman, holding ever-larger seminars in luxury hotels and convention centers.
“The problem was, he could not stop,” Gerdes said.
Dryer received more than $38 million between January 2003 and December 2005 to build 40 duplexes, leaving hundreds of people with nothing, Gerdes said.
Ridley argued that Dryer went to seminars to educate people about real estate, but he was not “very good at the operational side,” which is why he let business associate Andy McFaul take those reins.
“The devil’s in the details, and the details show Andy McFaul was running the company,” Ridley said, adding that former chief executive McFaul is not being charged with a crime.
Nor is former Mile High Capital lawyer Jeffrey Kieffer, who wrote the contracts and approved how money was used, Ridley said.
“There’s no evidence money ended up in (Dryer’s) pocket, and if he spent too much money promoting the product, that’s not a crime,” Ridley said.
Ridley summarized, “It’s a business that didn’t work.”
Alex McCarthy: 303-954-1381 or amccarthy@denverpost.com
