Essex Man Jailed Over £226m Caribbean Resort Scam

UNITED KINGDOM – An Essex man will do 12 years jail time for scamming more than 8,000 people into investing in a luxurious Caribbean holiday resort. The scam amounted to over 200 million pounds. 

70-year-old David Ames used celebrity endorsements to lure people into the ponzi scheme, called the harlequin group.

The hotel and resort developments used celebrities and politicians including prime ministers from St Lucia and St Vincent & The Grenadines.

More than 8,000 units – villas and hotel rooms were sold in seven locations in the Caribbean and Brazil.

Only 176 were ever built. Ames was sentenced by the southwark crown court in the U.K.