SEC Charges Owner of Alternative Investment Firm in Belize Airport Financing Scam

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the owner of a Manhattan-based alternative investment firm with misappropriating close to $6 million in investor funds earmarked to finance the construction of an international airport in Belize. The SEC’s complaint alleges that between 2014 and 2017, Brent Borland sold more than $21 million of promissory notes to dozens of investors, promising that the funds would be used as bridge financing for development of an international airport in Placencia, Belize, and that the investments would be protected by pledges of real estate as collateral. Borland marketed and sold the notes through two companies, Borland Capital Group LLC, which purports to be active in “alternative investment,” and Belize Infrastructure Fund I, LLC, which purports to be in the business of construction finance.