Brit David Port Sentenced for Baywatch Fraud

The United States Attorney's Office announced that a British man was sentenced today for his part in defrauding investors of more than $350,000. David William Port, who was previously living in Kansas City as a resident alien, was sentenced to three years and eight months in a federal prison. He will also pay $169,985 in restitution to his "victims."

David Port convinced eighteen investors in the course of two years to give him cash in amounts from $5,000 to $75,000 to invest in PCG Media, a production and marketing firm in Kansas City, Missouri. The investors came from the United Kingdom, as well as California, New York, Delaware and Utah.

Port claimed that PCG owned the syndication rights to "Baywatch" in seventeen countries in addition to the merchandising rights for "Baywatch" promotional items. Port even went so far as to tell potential investors that PCG was planning to open a chain of "Baywatch" restaurants that were going to take over old Planet Hollywood locations. Port also informed investors that "Baywatch" star, David Hasselhoff, was a fellow investor in PCG Media. None of those claims were true.

Port also convinced some investors that PCG was a huge buyer of Fruit of the Loom t-shirts for the purpose of making promotional t-shirts for retail sale. He claimed that PCG Media had a multi-million dollar business in t-shirt printing, and mentioned such big-name clients as Coca Cola and McDonalds. These claims were also false.

Port was extradited from England and pleaded guilty to a federal judge on five counts of interstate transportation of money obtained by fraud in July 2007. When he was extradited, he was a fugitive stemming from a conviction for securities fraud in New York. His sentencing today reflects that he is not eligible for parole.

In addition to the New York conviction, Port had been convicted in his home country of England in 1994 for obtaining property by deception. He did not disclose this information to his potential investors during his "Baywatch" scheme that took place over from October 1998 and October 2000.

Port also went so far as to falsely submit investor information to his victims. Documents were given to investors that claimed that PCG Media had assets in the amount of $20 million, with a cash balance of over a quarter of a million. PCG Media at the time had negligible assets and a cash balance of around $1,000. Port misled his potential investors into thinking that the privately-held PCG Media was a publicly-held company and traded on NASDAQ. He even issued fake stock certificates.

Source: United States Attorney's Office Western District of Missouri