BELIZE CITY, Mon. Oct. 11, 2021– Last week Tuesday, Brent Borland, a convicted investment fraudster, was sentenced to 7 years to prison in a Manhattan Federal Court after being found liable for defrauding dozens of investors upward of $26 million dollars.
Borland pleaded guilty in 2019 on charges of securities and wire fraud and was handed the book by Justice Katherine Polk Failla, who imposed the sentence on Tuesday.
“From 2014 through March 2018, Borland and others solicited and received approximately $26.1 million from approximately 40 investors based upon representations that he would use the investors’ money to construct an airport in Belize. Borland promised investors high rates of return on their investments, which he represented were temporary “bridge financing,” a release from the US justice department states.
It added, “Borland also represented to investors that their investments would be fully secured by real property in Belize that was unencumbered by any liens or obligations.”
Borland, a 51-year-old of West Palm Beach Florida was ordered to pay a forfeiture of $26,584,970 and restitution of the same amount. In addition to his prison term, he was sentenced to an additional three years of supervised release.
Closer to home, Borland and his long-time business partner Marco Caruso have been at odds since earlier this year over some deals signed on by Caruso that Borland, his wife Alana, and Copper Leaf LLC say were done unilaterally.
A freezing order had since been imposed on Borland’s domestic business partner Marco Caruso, to prevent the sales and deposition of some of those lands, including the Airport property, which he (Caruso) had allegedly opted to dispose of, and a plot of land comprising of upwards of 1,400 acres. These lands were to be used as collateral on the investors’ money given to Borland’s company for the creation of the Airport.
Caruso is the managing partner of the company the two both hold shares in, Placencia Estates Development LLC, and has been named as an alleged key player in Borland’s scheme.
The two are now at odds since the March 2021 Freezing Order handed down by Justice Lisa Shoman in the Supreme Court. This freezing order was first made in December of 2020 and was reinforced in March 2021. This ties up the properties in question held by business partners from Caruso, as Borland serves out his sentence.