A
Costa Rica Land
Grab Smells Like
a $50 Million
Ponzi Scheme
By Gus
Garcia-Roberts,
Miaminewstimes.com
In 2005, Dallas
resident Richard
Silverman
returned from
vacation in
Costa Rica
convinced the
Central American
paradise was a
perfect spot for
a second home.
So after
searching
online,
Silverman
discovered
something called
Paragon
Properties of
Costa Rica. Its
website was
chock full of
Sims-quality
computer
renderings of
elegant villas,
available for
the bargain rate
of us$60 per
square foot.
There was
glowing
testimonial and
a photo of the
project's
grinning
chairman,
"Columbia-educated"
"world traveler"
Bill Gale, a
burly, bearded
Miamian stuffed
into Rochester
Big & Tall
pinstripes,
appearing ready
to assure you he
can defecate
diamonds at
will.
A sales
associate
explained to
Silverman the
can't-lose
proposition over
the phone: Pay a
$25,000 deposit,
go to Costa Rica
to check out the
plot, and if
you're unhappy,
receive a full
refund.
You know where
this is going.
The development
is still
unfinished, and
upward of 900
gullible souls
haven't gotten
their deposits
back, says
Matthew Sarelson,
the Brickell
attorney who
filed a
class-action
lawsuit against
Paragon earlier
this year. It
was a "classic
Ponzi scheme,"
with the scam's
operators paying
back old
investors with
new investments
until the money
ran out. Total
loss, in
Sarelson's
"rough
estimate": $50
million.
"Most of the
victims were
older Middle
Americans who
were not
wealthy,"
Sarelson says.
"Most of them
are going to
have their
retirements
ruined because
of this."
The outfit,
based out of a
boiler room in
Hollywood,
hasn't responded
to the suit.
Paragon's
suspected
principals read
like a South
Florida all-star
grifter team:
Gale, apparently
involved in
Lehigh Acres,
the lucrative
Fort Myers
development so
badly planned
that the county
declared it
blighted;
Stephen Tashman,
ordered by the
Federal Trade
Commission to
pay $12 million
for a fraudulent
calling card
scheme in the
'80s; and Lyle
Wexler and Larry
Webman, sued in
2005 for illegal
currency
trading.
Riptide knocked
on the door of
Gale's
four-bedroom
Aventura-area
home, stocked
with twin black
Lexus four-doors
in the carport,
but was rebuffed
by a single
word: "Bye."
Jilted Texan
Richardson knows
his money is
likely gone, but
he's hoping Gale
et al. will be
prosecuted. See,
he's a big fan
of American
Greed, the
television
series about
corporate
piracy: "I want
to see the guy
on TV. That's
the only
satisfaction
I'll get out of
this thing."
Original story
can be found at:
http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2010/06/a_costa_rica_land_grab_smells.php |
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