SEATTL, Wash., Oct. 26 (UPI) -- A Seattle-area man charged with a $100 million Ponzi scheme moved money to Belize and planned to leave the country, federal prosecutors say.
Darren Berg was arrested last week. He is being held until a court rules on a prosecutor's motion to deny him bail pending trial, SeattlePI.com reported Tuesday.
Berg allegedly fleeced investors of at least $100 million by setting up a group of funds to invest in real estate and mortgages. Investigators say he used the money to maintain a lavish lifestyle that included a mansion on Mercer Island, now up for sale priced at $8.2 million, and to pay interest to earlier investors.
"Mr. Berg is charged with a massive wire fraud scheme involving losses well over $100 million," Assistant U.S. Attorney Norman Barbosa said. "He has admitted that he consulted with an attorney in an effort to establish an offshore trust in the Central American country of Belize for the purpose of fleeing prosecution. Mr. Berg has demonstrated that he simply cannot be trusted under any circumstances."
Berg was supposedly cooperating with investigators trying to untangle his financial transactions while he was building up his overseas nest egg, prosecutors said.
