Former S-Ray CEO Stephen Baird was found dead after missing his sentencing hearing for wire fraud last week, the Department of Justice said in a news release on Wednesday.
Baird, 69, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in May after an investigation into his misuse of investor money while leading S-Ray, a medical device startup. Prosecutors were urging U.S. District Judge Richard Jones to hand down a 7-year prison sentence on top of more than $10 million in restitution.
He did not show up to the hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on Friday and Jones issued an arrest warrant.
The Justice Department did not give additional details or cause of death.
He was found near his home in Terrebonne, Ore.
Baird was also facing civil penalties worth more than $6 million from a Securities and Exchange Commission civil case that began in March 2022. He did not respond to the court after submitting a delay in that case and a federal judge ruled against him in a default judgment.
Baird originally started the company in Portland but moved it to Seattle in 2016, according to Washington Secretary of State records. He was a resident of Bainbridge Island and purchased a home there in 2015. The home sold in 2019, according to Kitsap County property records.
The Justice Department will file a motion to dismiss his case, according to a department spokesperson.
“The government will still pursue all available financial remedies on behalf of the victims,” the spokesperson said.
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