PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - The Securities and Exchange Commission is accusing former Portland developer Michael Liberty and four others of defrauding investors out of $50 million and spending it on a “lavish lifestyle.”
The lawsuit names Liberty, his wife, his Portland lawyer and two others, along with four shell companies. The Portland Press Herald reports that investors’ money that was supposed to go to a tech startup went to things like chartered flights, expensive homes and cars, movie production, and even a dairy farm.
Liberty’s lawyer called it a “groundless complaint.”
Liberty developed several major properties in Portland in the late 1980s before moving to Windmere, Florida. He was most recently in the news when he was sentenced to four months in prison for a scheme that used relatives to get around campaign finance laws.
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Information from: Portland Press Herald, http://www.pressherald.com
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