Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that BRENT BORLAND, the owner and principal of a New York-based investment fund known as Belize Infrastructure Fund I LLC (“Belize Fund”), pled guilty to perpetrating a $22 million investment fraud scheme against dozens of Belize Fund investors. BORLAND pled guilty today before U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla to conspiring to commit, and the commission of, securities fraud and wire fraud.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “Brent Borland solicited funds from investors for a project to build a new airport in Belize. In doing so, Borland promised a high rate of return and assured investors that their funds were secured by real property. Not only was he not truthful about the collateral for their investments, Borland used a substantial portion of investors’ funds to support his own lavish lifestyle. Today, Brent Borland admitted to investor fraud to the tune of $22 million, and faces substantial time in federal prison.”
According to the Complaint and Indictment:
From 2014 through March 2018, BORLAND and others solicited and received approximately $21.9 million through Belize Fund from approximately 40 investors based upon representations that BORLAND 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.” 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.
In fact, however, BORLAND misappropriated millions of dollars of investors’ funds and used those funds for his own personal benefit. BORLAND diverted at least approximately 30 percent of the approximately $21.9 million invested by victims to himself to pay for a variety of personal expenses, including his mortgage payments, credit card bills, luxury automobiles, a beach club membership, and private school tuition for his children. In contrast to BORLAND’s representations that investors would receive high rates of return within a specified time frame, all known investors in the scheme lost money. And while BORLAND represented that the investments would be secured by real property, the property purportedly serving as collateral was improperly pledged to multiple investors and, in some cases, did not even exist.
BORLAND, 48, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, which carries a maximum potential sentence of five years in prison; one count of securities fraud, which carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison; and one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison. The maximum potential penalties are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant would be determined by the judge. BORLAND is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Failla on June 21, 2019.
Mr. Berman praised the investigative work of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and thanked the Securities and Exchange Commission.
If you believe you were a victim of this crime, including a victim entitled to restitution, and you wish to provide information to law enforcement and/or receive notice of future developments in the case or additional information, please contact the Victim/Witness Unit at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, at (866) 874-8900. For additional information, go to: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/victimwitness.html.
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