Delta Junction man gets 2 years in prison over ‘Bud and Breakfast’ business pitch

A Delta Junction man was sentenced Friday to two years in federal prison for defrauding investors through what prosecutors described as a fake marijuana “Bud and Breakfast” business.

Brian Corty, 53, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in January. Charges of wire fraud were dismissed against Corty and his wife as part of his plea agreement.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline sentenced Corty to two years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He was ordered to pay $581,000 in restitution.

The indictment charging Corty and his wife in 2023 described his business pitch to investors as a marijuana theme park with cultivation and sales where visitors could lie in bed beneath glass ceilings and watch the northern lights.

Corty began collecting money from investors in 2017 to create the resort in Interior Alaska, federal prosecutor Thomas Bradley wrote in a sentencing memorandum. He promised returns of 30 times the initial investment within three years and projected “wildly optimistic” profits, the memorandum said.

“It is unclear how anyone could project that a lodge selling rooms and marijuana in Salcha, Alaska, could possibly generate the returns he promised,” Bradley wrote in the memorandum.

Corty never obtained licensing for marijuana operations and lived off the investor funds, the memorandum said. He obtained roughly $600,000 over three years from at least 22 investors, it said, and used some of the money to refinance his home and pay off debt.

Corty did not mean to defraud investors, but rather failed to build the business, his attorney, assistant federal defender Gary Colbath, wrote in a sentencing memorandum. Corty was injured in a fall from a communications tower in 2014 and was a medical user of marijuana who envisioned building a business as the industry expanded in Alaska after the state legalized recreational use that year, the memorandum said.

Corty spent nearly three quarters of the investors’ money trying to make the business work, the memorandum said. He purchased a roadway lodge that needed renovation, but ran into costly setbacks including foundation issues and remote construction challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, the memorandum said.

Colbath requested Corty be sentenced to time served and three years of supervised release to include some home confinement. Corty faces health issues including chronic pain and limited mobility and also serves as primary caregiver for his wife, who also has a number of medical problems, he said.

Prosecutors requested a three-year sentence, which they said accounted for health concerns.