U.D.P. Senator is Detained in the U.S. for Questioning by the F.T.C.

Aldo Salazar

There is word tonight that U.D.P. Senator Aldo Salazar is in trouble with U.S. authorities. Last week, Salazar was part of a delegation to Taiwan which included the President of the Senate, Lee Mark Chang. Salazar was returning to Belize via Houston over the weekend when he was pulled aside by U.S. authorities and questioned for at least three hours. While Salazar’s travel was on official business, his detention, we have learnt, had to do with Sanctuary Bay. That is the scam ran by Andres Pukke from a U.S. jail and described as the biggest real estate scam in U.S. history.  Millions of dollars were scammed from American investors who were led to believe they were investing in retiring homes in Belize. Salazar is the attorney for Atlantic International Bank whose license was revoked by Central Bank in the wake of the scam. His detention was at the behest of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission which is the regulatory body that deals with international banking transactions. According to a report, the F.T.C. has managed to obtain voluminous critical information on the bank unknowingly from Salazar during his detention. There is also information that the C.E.O. of the defunct bank, Rick Pelayo, has given evidence to the F.T.C. Efforts to reach Salazar were unsuccessful but we followed with a text message, which by news time, he had not answered.  Salazar is also the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Immigration.