Manhattan, Thurs. Feb. 14, 2019– In March 2018, Brent Borland, a New York-based investment manager who is the principal at Borland Capital Group, was arrested and charged with fraud after an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission discovered that he had bilked more than a dozen investors out of 21.9 million dollars for building an airport in southern Belize.

Reuters reported yesterday, Wednesday, February 13, that Borland, 48, pleaded guilty to one count each of securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy before U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan, the Justice Department said.

Borland is scheduled to be sentenced on June 21, 2019.

Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a press release last year after the indictment was unsealed, that “Brent Borland, owner of Belize Infrastructure Fund, allegedly induced investors to contribute over $21 million into the construction of an airport in Belize by promising a high rate of return, which was secured by real property owned by the fund.”

“The fraud counts each carry a maximum 20-year prison term. A federal public defender representing Borland did not immediately respond to a request for comment,” yesterday’s Reuters report said.

The airport was supposed to have been in Placencia, and Borland had promised investors double-digit returns on their investment.

Borland, however, reportedly used the money investors trusted him with to finance a lifestyle of luxury.

Out of 6 million dollars of investors’ money that Borland used for himself, he paid “$2.67 million of credit card bills, mortgage payments on a Florida mansion, a Mercedes-Benz SUV, membership dues at the Delray Beach Club, and private school tuition for Borland’s children,” court papers said last year.

Borland ran the scheme from 2014 to 2018, and all the investors who participated in his scheme lost money.