On November eighth, the Federal Trade Commission revealed that a multimillion-dollar real estate scam had been operating in Belize for fifteen years. The scam was swiftly shutdown by the F.T.C., but not before the scammers made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars from multiple victims of the U.S. The scam was operated by twice convicted felon, Andris Pukke, while he was incarcerated. Pukke, along with several associates, promised clients a lush piece of land, equipped with world class amenities on a fourteen thousand-acre property in southern Belize. That vast piece of land is reportedly own by Sittee River Wildlife Reserve which according to the indictment also does business as Sanctuary Belize, Sanctuary Bay and The Reserve. This leads us to what happened before Supreme Court Justice Courtenay Abel this afternoon. A legal claim has been filed against Sittee River Wildlife Reserve whose attorney and representatives appeared before Justice Abel. The matter was filed by one of the victims, Arizona resident Colleen Strom. Strom made numerous payments that totaled one hundred and ten thousand Belize dollars for which she has nothing to show. She sought the legal advice of attorney Estevan Perrera.
Esteven Perera
Esteven Perera, Attorney
“According to the claim we are seeking the return of all funds invested in the project and our client feels that she has been misrepresented to and the promises made to her were not fulfilled. As such she is now asking that the funds that she has been invested in be returned to her.”
Hipolito Novelo
“Sir can you share the details of the timeline in terms of when is it that she got in contact with these so-called developers, when monies were paid and by when she was told when she would be getting what is worth for her money.”
Esteven Perera
“A number of years have passed. I don’t recall the specifics at this point in time but quite a number of years have passed since the funds were paid over and for the monies to be collected, the development to be completed and the monies to be returned to her.”
Hipolito Novelo
“So she handed in money for a parcel of land down south house and what else?”
Esteven Perera
“Her purchase was for a purchase of a property down south in development and she was provided with several promises that the development would have certain amenities and features and that those would have been made available within a specific period of time which would have increased the value of her property. We are concerned because it is out client’s position that these things haven’t come true and as such she believes that she was misrepresented to and she is entitled to the return of her funds.”
Hipolito Novelo
“So she sought after the reports came out from the FTC that this was a multimillion dollars real estate scam?”
Esteven Perera
“I believe she is looking into that in the US as well. Sittee River Wildlife Reserve is actually the company that owns the property, the entire land. It is a huge property. It is about fourteen thousand acres. The Sanctuary Bay or Belize Reserve, there are quite number of names that they go by, those were the operating companies that he developers were using at the time. I believe there even a company that they use for construction there as well but they are all tied together and ultimately the land owner is Sittee River Wildlife Reserve.”