United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced that ANDRIS PUKKE, a/k/a “Marc Romeo,” a/k/a “Andy Storm,” was sentenced yesterday to eight years in prison by U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken for leading a years-long real estate scam in Belize called “Sanctuary Belize,” in which hundreds of victims—many of whom were retirees—were defrauded of approximately $77 million.
“Hundreds of hard-working Americans—many of them retirees—lost their savings to this brazen fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Andris Pukke thought he could hide behind foreign land deals and false names, but he was wrong. This sentence removes a bad actor and serves as a warning to other would-be fraudsters.”
As alleged in the Indictment and statements made in public filings and public court proceedings:
PUKKE directed and controlled Sanctuary Belize, which was a vacation and retirement community under development in Belize. PUKKE fraudulently induced hundreds of victims to invest more than $100 million in lots in Sanctuary Belize. Victims purchased lots with the understanding that they would obtain lots in a built-out community that they could use to build retirement homes, vacation homes, or investment properties. The victims were induced to invest by PUKKE and his salespeople, and a large majority of the victims were never in fact able to build the homes in Sanctuary Belize that they’d hoped for.
PUKKE has prior convictions for mail fraud and obstruction of justice and has a prior $172 million judgment against him from the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) in connection with a prior deceptive company he controlled, AmeriDebt. Knowing that victims would not want to invest in Sanctuary Belize if they were aware of the criminal background of the man who controlled Sanctuary Belize, PUKKE directed his salespeople to lie and say that he was not involved in Sanctuary Belize. PUKKE used the aliases “Marc Romeo” and “Andy Storm” to conceal his involvement and control of Sanctuary Belize.
PUKKE also directed his salespeople to tell victims that Sanctuary Belize had no debt and that every dollar from victims would go to develop the property. In fact, Sanctuary Belize had more than $12 million in debt, and PUKKE stole nearly $10 million from Sanctuary Belize for, among other things, the purchase and renovation of a waterfront home, the repayment of a personal loan, personal investments in startup companies, child support payments, purchase of land in the Bahamas, and payments to family and friends.
While under investigation by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, PUKKE unsuccessfully attempted to induce another individual to create a sham document that he hoped to show prosecutors and the investigating grand jury in an effort to corruptly avoid prosecution.
PUKKE was convicted of wire fraud and obstruction of justice on July 10, 2024. In connection with his sentencing, victims sent nearly two hundred letters to the Court describing the harm caused to them, including in some cases, the loss of their retirement savings.
In addition to the prison term, PUKKE, 56, of Newport Beach, California, was sentenced to three years of supervised release. PUKKE was ordered to forfeit $9,912,396 and was previously ordered in litigation with the FTC to pay restitution to victims of Sanctuary Belize in the amount of $120.2 million.
Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Clayton also thanked the Federal Trade Commission for their assistance with the case.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey C. Coffman, James McMahon, and Kevin Mead are in charge of the prosecution. – Source
