Naturalized St. Vincent nationwide Dave Ames jailed for gigantic Ponzi scheme”
The Britain-born, St. Vincent and the Grenadines naturalized citizen, Dave Ames, has been sentenced to 12 years in jail for working what a decide described as a “gigantic Ponzi scheme” within the Caribbean.
Ames, the previous chairman of Harlequin, the corporate that owned the previous Buccament Bay Resort in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, can also be wished within the Caribbean island on tax evasion and theft prices.
He was sentenced within the British court docket to 9 years for one rely of fraud by abuse of place and three years for one more rely. The sentences will run consecutively.
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Final month, the Critical Fraud Workplace (SFO) in the UK efficiently prosecuted Ames, who was behind the fraud involving celebrity-endorsed luxurious resorts within the Caribbean, together with Buccament Bay Resort.
In handing down his sentence on Friday, Justice Christopher Hehir described Ames as a “slick salesman and completely dishonest with it”
He mentioned that Harlequin’s gross sales materials was “stuffed with ambiguous, false, and deceptive claims in his identify.
“The prosecution was cautious to not use the phrase earlier than the jury, however the plain reality is that from January 2010 the operation was a huge Ponzi scheme and will solely preserve going by attracting new traders and also you knew they’d nearly inevitably lose every part.
The decide mentioned Ames had no related expertise coming into the property enterprise, noting “you had bought backyard furnishings and double glazing and been within the mortgage enterprise however have been twice declared bankrupt, a truth you didn’t readily declare to these whose cash you have been after.
In presenting its case, the FSO mentioned a jury at Southwark Crown Courtroom discovered Ames, 70, responsible of two counts of fraud by abuse of place. He supplied no proof in his protection.
An SFO investigation uncovered how Ames deceived over 8,000 British traders within the Harlequin Group, a resort, and resorts growth enterprise. Victims have been led to imagine that they had a safe funding in a property whereas, in actuality, Harlequin Group was by no means working as promised, the press launch mentioned.
The enterprise mannequin relied upon traders paying a 30 p.c deposit to buy an unbuilt villa or resort room, half of which went towards charges for Harlequin and related salespeople, whereas Harlequin put the remaining 15 p.c towards building.
Buyers have been fraudulently instructed that the constructing of the properties could be additional funded by exterior monetary backing. With no further supply of funding, three properties wanted to be bought to finance simply one of many luxurious lodging items.
This led to the exponential growth of the scheme, the diversion of investor cash between resorts and a funding shortfall of over 1.2 billion kilos (One British pound=US$1.11 cents) by 2012 — seven years after Ames launched the scheme.
All through the whole eight-year undertaking, solely 28 of over 8,000 traders ever accomplished on a purchase order, leaving effectively over 99 p.c with no return on their funding. The Harlequin Group misplaced a complete of 398 million kilos of investor funds.
In 2020, the federal government acquired the previous Buccament Bay Resort, which was closed in December 2016, and bought it, in addition to further surrounding lands to the Jamaica-based Sandals Resort Worldwide for US$17.5 million.
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