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$140M "Invested" In Stake Bank Without Security
Wed, March 27, 2024
In our continuing coverage of the most expensive receivership in Belize's banking history - the one at Stake Bank Jules Vasquez tonight looks at another mystifying feature of that project.

He asks - how could 140 million - of the 200 million dollars that funded the still incomplete project have been unsecured?

This agreement is between the investors from a company named Operaciones Portuarias and the principals of Stake Bank Enterprises, Mike and Melita Feinstein. These investors are from El Salvador and Honduras and pumped 140 million Belize dollars into the project.. Reports on one side say they did so without a guarantee, reports on the other side say their agreement was for 50% equity participation. Both sides agree they never got that equity.

In clause 8.1 of the agreement, they commit to "negotiating, arranging and procuring…all required finances for the development of Stake Bank Island. Clause 7.5 makes it clear that for this they get what's called a consultancy fee of 4.5 million US dollars.

For his part, clause 8 makes it clear that Mike Feinstein and his wife are not required to give any personal guarantee whatsoever.

So what was supposed to be an equity investment ended up as at least 140 million dollars in unsecured debt.

It's now the receiver Marlowe Neal's job to figure out how he can recover it for them.

For the Atlantic Bank, its 60 million dollar loan to the project is secured by the 16 acre island itself, but as we showed you last night, that appears to be an impaired asset because the mortgage debenture does not include the 24 acres that Feinstein filled in around the original island. The bank calls that fraud - Feinstein calls it a very strong hand. We'll see what the court says.

Estimates are that to complete the project now will require upwards of another 50 million dollars - which would come from the same Central American investment group.

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