U.S. National Pleads Guilty to Multi-Million Dollars Scam including Belize

On Wednesday, forty-eight-year-old American national, Brent Borland, pleaded guilty to running a multimillion dollar scam and using Belize to do so. He pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy. According to U.S. federal laws, each count carries a maximum of a twenty-year prison sentence. Borland confessed to running a twenty-one-point-nine million dollar fraud in which he falsely told dozens of investors their money was being used to build an international airport on the Placencia Peninsula in Belize. The high-level scammer promised investors ‘double-digit rates of return for providing temporary “bridge” financing for the airport. Borland, however, diverted about six million dollars to a holding company he and his wife controlled. The millions of dollars were used for personal expenses such as tax payments for his three-point-five million dollar Florida mansion, credit card bills, a beach club membership, a Mercedes-Benz SUV, private school tuition for his children, and almost ten thousand dollars’ worth of high-end watches. He was reportedly running the scheme from 2014 to March 2018. All his known investors lost money. Sentencing is scheduled for June twenty-first.