A real estate developer pleaded guilty to defrauding investors out of more than $13 million with scams involving fraudulent projects in Latin America.
Barry Breeman, 75, of Tuxedo Park, New York, solicited investments in various real estate projects through false and misleading statements from 2018 through 2024 as a means to make up for the loss of income in his legitimate business.
According to the charges brought against him, Breeman lured prospective investors to buy limited partnership interests in Latin American real estate deals by sending them promotional photographs, prospectuses, and business projections and by promising quarterly distributions. But he often fabricated these investment opportunities and, often had neither a connection to the projects he promoted nor authority to sell partnership interests in them. When he received investor funds, he used the money to cover personal expenses – none of the more than $13 million he obtained from approximately 30 investors were invested in the deals he promoted.
Breeman was charged with and pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
