Sanctuary Belize’s Assets Frozen by U.S. Federal Court

Sanctuary Belize is back in the news tonight. The actions by the Federal Trade Commission against the defendants in the massive Sanctuary Belize real estate scam continue, as well as its investigations.  On August second, a federal judge in Maryland, U.S.A. supported the F.T.C.’s application for a preliminary injunction against the defendants, “ruling their allegedly fraudulent behavior would likely continue without it.”  According to Law360, the court’s order allows the continuation of an asset freeze of the sprawling Sanctuary Belize development in the Stann Creek District.  The court also supported the F.T.C.’s bid for a temporary receiver that has been running the incomplete developing.  The online article explains that the judge wrote that without the preliminary injunction, the “defendants could go about acting in the very ways that the evidence firmly suggests.”   The ruling comes three weeks after Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced that “there has been a settlement of the A.I.B.L. difficulties arising out of the complaints made against and several other defendants by the F.T.C. and the subsequent forced liquidation of A.I.B.L.”   While a settlement was agreed, the commissioners of the F.T.C. would have to officially sign off to make the settlement final. After unearthing the massive scam which left American retirees out of more than a hundred million dollars, the F.T.C. carried out an intensive investigations and made several damning allegations against the government, cabinet ministers, and Prime Minister Dean Barrow. When news broke of the allegations, PM Barrow urgently called a press conference during which he refuted the F.T.C.’s allegations, but said he will not take legal action at the F.T.C.  He rather warned media houses in repeating those allegations.