The U.S. Attorney’s Alaska office has arrested an Delta Junction couple with conspiracy and wire fraud, for taking investors for more than $700,000 that they believed could be used to build the marijuana theme park Salcha.
FBI investigators believe Brian as well as Candy Corty used false and fraudulent claims to convince 22 people across the nation to put down $722,000 into a venture that the Cortys described as an “marijuana themed park” they referred to as “Bud as well as Breakfast.”
One of them who resided in New York City, invested $200,000 into the venture according to an U.S. Attorney’s Office affidavit. One North Carolina resident invested $25,000.
The affidavit states that between 2017 and 2020, the Cortys convinced potential investors to invest in shares in the company they run, Ice Fog Holdings, to help finance the construction of marijuana processing, cultivation and retail establishment on the site of the former Midway Lodge in Salcha, that the couple purchased in the year 2018.
The affidavit claims that the Cortys informed investors that the attraction was going to “include glass ceilings so that Ice Fog’s patrons could relax in bed and gaze at the Northern Lights.”.
Assistant Attorney in Fairbanks U.S. attorney and lead prosecutor Ryan Tansey says they take the issue of investment fraud very seriously.
“Our office is called which is the U.S. Attorney’s Office, will use all the resources we have to look into and hold accountable the parties who were culpable in these cases,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.
Brian Corty declined to comment regarding the incident recorded on Wednesday evening. However, he stated in a written reply that “An indictment is only an allegation, and suspects will be presumed innocent until they are proven to be guilty beyond reasonable doubt by the court of law.”
Corty claimed to have told investors in mid-2017 that profits for the company to increase rapidly, going beginning at $3.8 million during the initial year to nearly $23 million in three years. He also said that their investment would increase by 30 times.
The venture never came to the point of. The investigation has revealed that the Cortys and unnamed co-conspirators were aware that the business did not have any revenue potential and had any chance of getting an approval through the State Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office.
They also stated that the Cortys utilized the money received from investors to fund personal goals.
According to the announcement released on today by U.S. Attorney’s Alaska office the office of the U.S. Attorney’s Alaska office, there is an FBI inquiry into this matter continues with help from Alaska Department of Law. Alaska Department of Law.
Cortys Cortys have been scheduled to be tried on Monday in the Federal Courthouse located in Fairbanks on charges including 3 counts of fraud on wires as well as the one charge of conspiring to be guilty of wire fraud.
