January 21, 2020
The bench trial of three individuals accused of running a $140 million Belize-based real estate scam got off to a chaotic start Tuesday morning when the appearance of a brand-new attorney for the purported mastermind of the scheme threw a Maryland federal judge for a loop.
January 15, 2020
A Maryland federal judge has approved an $86 million judgment against a sales and marketing employee in a Federal Trade Commission case alleging a massive real estate investment scam in a Manhattan-sized development in the country of Belize.
September 24, 2019
Atlantic International Bank Ltd. will pay $23 million — the entirety of its U.S.-based assets — to settle Federal Trade Commission claims that the shuttered Belizean institution helped facilitate a $100 million Belize-based real estate fraud.
September 12, 2019
An alleged mastermind of a Belize real estate scam can't fund his defense or travel expenses from money set aside for victims, the Federal Trade Commission told a Maryland federal court, saying he gets $3,000 a month from a frozen account and isn't looking for a job.
September 09, 2019
A Maryland federal judge has denied a bid by the alleged public face of a Belize real estate enterprise to exit a Federal Trade Commission sales fraud suit, saying the agency has sufficiently shown he's breaking the law now and may plan to do so in the future.
September 03, 2019
The Federal Trade Commission has asked a Maryland federal court to compel a key marketing strategist to produce documents in a Belize property sales fraud case, alleging that he has refused through his counsel to participate in most discovery.
August 16, 2019
A Maryland federal judge has denied a defendant's bid to release restrained funds so he can pay his lawyer about $189,000 in fees and costs in a Belize property sales case, which the Federal Trade Commission calls the largest overseas real estate investment scam it has ever targeted.
August 02, 2019
A Maryland federal judge on Friday backed the Federal Trade Commission's bid for a preliminary injunction against the defendants in a Belize property sales case that the agency calls the largest overseas real estate investment scam it's targeted, ruling their allegedly fraudulent behavior would likely continue without it.
June 24, 2019
A Maryland federal judge has granted the Federal Trade Commission's bids to deny an executive's and a marketing employee's separate requests for a jury trial in a Belize property sales case that the agency calls the largest overseas real estate investment scam it's targeted.
June 06, 2019
The Federal Trade Commission has urged a Maryland federal court to deny a sales and marketing employee's request for a jury trial in a case the agency calls the largest overseas real estate investment "scam" it's targeted, saying defendants under the Federal Trade Commission Act don't have the right to a jury trial.