Aaron Wagner, a fraudster who once pitched a restaurant called Swags in Scottsdale, likely won’t have much swagger as he enters a federal prison.
In “United States v. Wagner,” page 16 of Exhibit 120 is a spreadsheet titled “Real Estate Schedule – Dynamic Capital/Aaron Wagner.”
Following a dozen properties in Utah, the spreadsheet itemizes a five-bedroom home, $4.2 million home near Shea Boulevard and 75th Street in Scottsdale.
Then comes a listing for 7323 E. Shoeman Lane – the address where Wagner failed to sell a restaurant/club called Swags to Scottsdale City Council.
Three years after his failed plea to Scottsdale, Wagner entered a guilty plea in federal court.
On Aug. 26, according to a court document, “Aaron A. Wagner, after consultation and agreement with counsel, consents to United States Magistrate Judge Jared C. Bennett accepting defendant’s plea of guilty.”
He faces up to 80 years behind bars.
Though his financial statements show 20 restaurants he opened around the country operating with profits, Wagner admitted to using funds from investors to buy homes, private planes – and enjoy “a lavish lifestyle.”
Wagner was at first charged alone, but his business partner, Michael Mains, soon was added as a co-defendant.
The prosecution’s case cites “Exhibit 3 – Mains email re using overraise to fund private jet.
In a 2021 email to Wagner, Mains wrote:
“With Scottsdale restaurant opening and Candace (Wagner’s wife) loving it down there, you might want a plane every weekend …”
On Aug. 28, two days after Wagner’s plea, Mains followed with his own guilty plea. Sentencing for both is set for Nov. 18.
Thus ends nearly two years of legal maneuvering following the federal prosecutor’s allegation: “Wagner devised … a scheme to defraud private investors and lenders in restaurant businesses managed by WagsCap Food Services, LLC and other related entities ….”
According to the Oct. 23, 2024, criminal complaint, Wagner “would offer an investment or loan with a pitch describing a restaurant or real estate project needing funding; would show off to investors in person and in promotional materials Wagner’s own lavish lifestyle (including personal jets, exotic vehicles, luxury vacations, etc.) to induce investors to believe that he was a successful businessman; all without disclosing that many of these indicators of success were in fact financed by investor funds he had stolen from the very businesses they were meant to support.”
Wagner ultimately admitted to the charges, including that he provided prospective investors “false information about the scope and success of his and WagsCap’s past business ventures.”
After enticing investors to throw money to his business plan, Wagner “would divert the funds to other uses, including personal expenses and other projects” – and partially repay previous investors “in order to conceal the fact that he had already squandered or diverted the investors’ money.”
Old Town battle
On his website, Wagner said getting cut from his eighth-grade team stuck with him – inspiring him to get a college scholarship, NFL tryout and brief pro football career in the Canadian Football League.
At wagscapital.com, Wagner boasted how a modest condo “flip” while he was in college was “the unofficial start of Wags Capital.”
He claimed his company has done transactions totaling over $1 billion, including opening dozens of restaurants around the country.
Wagner told the Progress he figured buying a run-down building in Scottsdale Old Town’s Entertainment District and turning it into a high-end restaurant would be a “slam dunk.”
In early 2024, he paid $4.5 million for the property on East Shoeman Lane, with plans to convert it into Swags.
Wagner complained he spent another $500,000 for engineering, planning – and legal bills.
In the fall of 2023, Swags’ representative, Omar Abdallah from Rose Law Group, repeatedly told the Scottsdale Planning Commission: “It’s not a bar – it’s a restaurant … It helps stop the growth of bars in the neighborhood.”
Though the Planning Commission unanimously approved the Swags plan to build a three-story, 10,000-square foot restaurant, he failed to win super-majority approval from City Council.
The rezoning Wagner needed for a multilevel restaurant/bar in the Entertainment District was furiously contended by nightclub rivals Stockdale Capital, run by Shawn and Steven Yari.
Wagner told the Progress he has opened restaurants in 50 cities – with no problems, until he ran up against the Yari brothers.
“One of the biggest complaints that I have with this process that I’m going through,” he said in 2024. “That’s because every city that I’ve ever gone to is ecstatic about a restaurant.”
At the time, Wagner was attempting to launch a Bottled Blonde bar in Gilbert.
After public meetings where the plan was bashed by neighbors, the Gilbert Redevelopment Commission voted 5-0 in 2023 to approve the final design for Bottled Blonde in the town’s Heritage District. It was subsequently passed by the Town Council.
Wags Capital and Wagscap were alternately listed as the developer in plans submitted to Gilbert.
Founded in Scottsdale a decade ago, Bottled Blonde locations have since opened in Dallas, Houston and Miami – a Chicago location was closed after complaints on noise and rowdiness.
The Gilbert location stalled whenWags Capital resisted requests to submit corrections to its plans in early 2024.
On Oct. 24, 2024, Wagner was arrested and booked into a Salt Lake City prison as a “federal detainee.”
His attorney successfully argued for his release from prison.
Wagner’s release stipulations include that he turn over his passport, not leave Utah and “not go near or on the location of the plane” he owns.
Early last year, Wagner was granted a request to travel from Utah “to visit with his mother in Mesa and sister in Scottsdale.”
In the complaint filed against Wagner, FBI Agent Brad Simons said he found the Wags Capital founder used $2 million from an investor intended for a restaurant venture to help purchase an $8.3 million airplane.
Dining and Cooking