Andris Pukke, also known as “Marc Romeo” and “Andy Storm,” was sentenced to eight years in prison for orchestrating a large-scale real estate fraud scheme involving the Sanctuary Belize development. The sentencing was announced by Jay Clayton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken handed down the sentence after finding that Pukke defrauded hundreds of victims, many of them retirees, out 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.”
According to court documents and statements made during proceedings, Pukke led Sanctuary Belize as a vacation and retirement community project in Belize. He persuaded victims to invest over $100 million with promises that they would receive lots suitable for building homes or making investments. However, most investors were unable to build on the properties as expected.
Pukke has prior convictions for mail fraud and obstruction of justice, as well as a $172 million judgment from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) related to his previous company, AmeriDebt. To conceal his involvement in Sanctuary Belize, Pukke instructed salespeople to deny his connection and used aliases.
He also directed sales staff to falsely claim that Sanctuary Belize had no debt and that all investor funds would go toward property development. In reality, the project had more than $12 million in debt, and Pukke diverted nearly $10 million for personal use—including purchasing and renovating a waterfront home, repaying loans, investing in startups, paying child support, buying land in the Bahamas, and making payments to family members.
While under investigation by federal authorities in New York, Pukke attempted unsuccessfully to have another individual create a fraudulent document intended to mislead prosecutors and the grand jury.
Pukke was convicted of wire fraud and obstruction of justice on July 10, 2024. During sentencing proceedings, nearly two hundred victim letters described financial harm suffered by investors who lost their retirement savings.
In addition to prison time, Pukke received three years of supervised release. He was ordered to forfeit nearly $10 million and had previously been ordered by the FTC to pay $120.2 million in restitution.
Jay Clayton commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s efforts on the case and thanked the FTC for its assistance. The prosecution was managed by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey C. Coffman, James McMahon, and Kevin Mead from the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.
