A businesswoman from Texas has told how she was duped into handing over $130,000 as part of an international fraud said to be jointly run by Bermudian Andre Curtis.

Ida Brown fears her company Cleopatra Holdings – set up to help revitalise a low-income area of San Antonio – is likely to go bankrupt as a result of her dealings with Mr. Curtis' business partner and convicted fraudster Daniel Two Feathers.

Ms Brown says she was promised her investment in September would reap $5 million– but instead she has received no return and has no way of repaying credit she got from the bank to finance the move.

"To find out it's just fraud is like taking a corkscrew, putting it in the top of my head and sucking my soul out," the single mother, multiple sclerosis sufferer told The Royal Gazette.

"It's absolutely devastating to you, financially and emotionally."

Montana State Auditor's Office has filed 24 violations against Mr. Curtis for his part in the alleged Ponzi scheme, which is said to have conned 13 victims out of a combined $4 million. Mr. Curtis' company Harvest Investment Holdings faces 23 violations.

Ms Brown was put in touch with Mr. Two Feathers via a third party when she was looking for ways to raise cash for an inner-city warehouse conversion.

He produced a spreadsheet showing how an investment of $100,000 would yield $10 million over 40 weeks, half of which would go to Mr. Two Feathers and the other half to Ms Brown.

Advisors told Ms Brown the key was to make sure she got a trade ticket for the transaction. Having duly got the trade ticket from Mr. Two Feathers, Ms Brown wired $100,000 directly into his personal account and paid another $30,000 to the woman who took her to him.

However, she now regrets not doing more research on Mr. Two Feathers' background and his business connections.

If she had done, she might have discovered he spent 41 months in prison and was ordered to pay $5 million restitution after being convicted in New York in 1999 of conspiracy to defraud the US, money laundering and creating or using fictitious obligations.

Recalling her first dealings with Mr. Two Feathers and his contacts, Ms Brown told this newspaper: "My business is to show people in my community, this low-income community, that we can survive.

"Everyone that came to me to sell a dream, they acted like they cared. I had a dream; they sold me an avenue to get it."

But things began to get "really hairy" when her first supposed payment failed to arrive and Mr. Two Feathers started to become elusive. "I was contacting Dan Two Feathers, but he doesn't answer the phone. He e-mailed telling me how many other people were calling. All of a sudden I realised there's something not right.

"On October the 6th, I will never forget it, I sent him an e-mail. I said: 'Man, if you don't pick up the phone I will come and get the money myself.'

"He sent me an e-mail to 'pray for wealth'.

"I said: 'What in the hell is this?' That was midnight. I was up by six in the morning, ringing the Bank of New York, my own bank ... each time I mentioned Dan Two Feathers, I was getting put through to compliance."

After doing some Internet searches on Mr. Two Feathers and his connected companies, she came to the conclusion he was trying to steal her money.

Finally, Montana State Auditor's Office got in touch and its investigation was launched. So far, it has unearthed another 12 alleged victims.

Ms Brown was not aware of the alleged involvement of Mr. Curtis – Premier Ewart Brown's political campaigner – until she read it on The Royal Gazette's website, but the Montana auditor spells out how he was said to be connected. Its action states Mr. Two Feathers spent $99,500 on US Treasury STRIPS the day after Ms Brown's cash landed in his account.

Later that month, Mr. Two Feathers sent his business partner Mr. Curtis a letter telling him to wire US Treasury STRIPS worth the exact same amount to a Swiss bank.

The most serious allegations against Mr. Curtis surround nearly $2 million which was paid to his firm Harvest Investment Holdings by another alleged victim, an Illinois-based investor who was falsely promised a 66 percent return within 25 days.

That investor has received no return and has not been given a certificate or any form of evidence for its investment.

Ms Brown says even if she gets the money back it will probably not be until April at the earliest, which will be too late to save her business.

Asked what she could have done differently, she replied: "I probably could have worked slower. I just made sure I had the trade ticket from Two Feathers.

"My advice to other people would be just sit still. Make sure they show you their licence. Don't let them just tell you they have a licence. "Also, ask them what's the brokers firm they are dealing with. You can call the brokers, make sure they are legitimately doing business with that brokers firm."

Advice from the auditor is that if a scheme appears too good to be true, it probably is.

Respondents in the case are Mr. Two Feathers, Mr. Curtis, Shawn Swor, Terrence Paulin, Eric Schultz and five firms or trusts connected to them.

Mr. Curtis was arrested earlier this month and spent two days in custody as a result of a separate investigation by Bermuda authorities.

However, nobody in Bermuda will confirm they are investigating Mr. Curtis, who is the branch manager of the Premier's Progressive Labour Party constituency in Warwick South Central.

Dr. Brown and PLP chairman David Burt have repeatedly refused to comment when asked how the allegations affect Mr. Curtis' role within the party.

Montana State Auditor's Office is appealing for anyone who has had dealings with Mr. Curtis or Harvest Investment Holdings which may be connected to the case, to get in touch on 1-406-444-2040. Montana is three hours behind Bermuda.