Feinstein fraud trial delayed pending appeal hearing
BELIZE CITY, Wed. Oct. 29, 2025
The fraud trial in the claim brought by Atlantic Bank Limited (ABL) against businessman Michael Feinstein back in April 2024 was set to begin today before High Court Justice Rajiv Goonetilleke. At issue is the 23.4-acre extension of Stake Bank Island, registered in Feinstein’s personal name rather than Stake Bank Enterprise Limited (SBEL) in which Feinstein was a principal. Atlantic Bank, which financed SBEL’s Port Coral cruise terminal project, placed the company into receivership after alleging default on a BZ$62 million loan. The bank accuses Feinstein of fraud, misrepresentation, and breach of fiduciary duty, arguing that the land should have been vested in SBEL. The amended claim form states, “Beginning in 2018, the 1st Claimant provided the funding for the development of a cruise ship docking facility and the dredging and reclamation at Stake Bank Island relying on the agreement that the 2nd Defendant [SBEL] would ensure that title to the Extension would be procured from the Government of Belize in the name of the 2nd Defendant and charged by way of first ranking legal mortgage in favour of the 1st Claimant [Feinstein.].” Feinstein, for his part, has denied that the island was too small for the project, and affirmed that, though a 2007 Environmental Compliance Plan (ECP) allowed a 23.4-acre extension, that initial plan did not materialize. He puts forth a reminder in his defense that ten years passed before the project was revived in 2017, and notes that a second ECP prohibited SBEL from extending the island by more than 2 acres. Feinstein admits that he personally obtained permission on June 18, 2021 to survey 23.5 acres of national land at the island “in his personal capacity, independently of the 2nd Defendant [SBEL] and with the knowledge and acquiescence of the Claimants.” He further notes that 99% of all the buildings on the island are located on the original 16.085 acres.
Last Friday, October 24, Justice Goonetilleke denied Feinstein’s application filed on October 17 to amend his defense. A stay of that ruling was scheduled to be heard today before the start of the trial, but Feinstein had also filed an application in the Belize Court of Appeal challenging the October 24 dismissal. With the appellate hearing now set for Thursday, November 6, his legal team instead requested an adjournment of both the stay application and the trial. Justice Goonetilleke granted the request, pending the outcome of the appeal application. If the appeal is denied, the stay application becomes irrelevant and the trial can proceed in the High Court.
Costs were awarded to the claimants and to SBEL, named as second defendant in the matter.
As with the SBEL shares matter last week, none of the attorneys spoke with the media following the adjournment. Feinstein himself declined to speak at length, offering only a brief comment to criticize the government. He stated, “All I can tell you is, it’s a sad time for Belize when the Government takes the side of ‘banksters.’” The decades-old term is a play on the words bankers and gangsters and has long been used as a reference to financial elites or institutions accused of unethical practices and exploitation.
Feinstein’s high-powered legal team includes King’s Counsel Richard Salter, a UK-based specialist in banking and commercial litigation; Rumen Cholakov, a London-based barrister who focuses on complex civil fraud cases; and local attorneys Hector Guerra and William A. Lindo. SBEL is represented by Senior Counsel Dean Barrow and Agassi Finnegan, while Atlantic Bank is represented by Senior Counsel Eamon Courtenay and Iliana Swift. Listed as Second Claimant in the case is Operaciones Portuarias S.A. de C.V. (OPSA) out of Honduras, which bought the SBEL debt from Atlantic Bank.
