Utah Brothers Face Fraud Charges After Failed Ski Resort
Members-only resort failed to materialize
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A pair of brothers in Utah have been arraigned on charges relating to their failed attempt to raise money to turn a Southern Utah ski area into an exclusive resort. Earlier this week, the brothers, Marc and Stephen Jenson, pleaded not guilty to both money laundering and fraud charges stemming for their “plan” to transform the Mount Holly ski area, which had been closed for eight years, into the gated Mount Holly Club.
The Jensons have been accused of shuttling the investor funds they raised for the resort between various accounts, but they maintain they were trying to build a legitimate business, which only failed when a big investor dropped out.
At one point, the Jensons were promoting a $3.5 billion development plan with a Jack Nicklaus-commissioned golf course, on a scale dwarfing the total property value of rural Beaver County by seven times. To join the club, buyers would have had to pay a one-time $250,000 fee and dues of $10,000 a year plus millions of dollars for a mountain home.
Marc is currently being held at a Beaver County jail for failing to pay $4 million from a different fraud, and his lawyer withdrew from the case, claiming that he wasn’t getting paid.
