Multi-millionaire Calvin Ayre is erecting a five-star resort in Antigua off profits made in dealing with cryptocurrencies.
The Canadian-born Ayre has been tapped as Antigua and Barbuda’s special economic envoy, relayed that he already started work on the upmarket tourist resort on Antigua’s Valley Church beach.
Ayre, who once pleaded guilty to a single federal misdemeanor in 2017 after spending 10 years hiding from United States, remarked that the Ayre Resort would be funded entirely by profits made from the upsurge in value of bitcoin wherein he was an early investor.
Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, was quoted as saying in a report posted on The Guardian:
“We expect the resort’s novel and exciting concept to broaden Antigua and Barbuda’s tourism product and bring a new category of tourists to our islands.
“We look forward to working with Mr Ayre on this resort and the many other investments he has made in Antigua.”
The 56-year old Ayre, to whom Antigua and Barbuda has given the certified title of “his excellency”, also stated:
“This resort will attract a totally new market segment of tourism on the island — successful wellness-seekers who also want to have fun.
“The property will not be an all-inclusive destination. Instead, its amenities will be available to residents of Antigua and Barbuda and visitors alike.”
The resort will accept bitcoin cash, which forked from bitcoin last year, at point of sale terminals on the property. It would also be accepted through its online booking engine.
Ayre, whose father was convicted of smuggling marijuana, was banned from acting as a director of a public company in British Columbia after a share-trading scandal that occurred way back in the 1990s.
He made a recovery from that setback to establish Bodog, one of the largest online gambling brands in the world. The business’s development and growth eventually resulted in him judging televised lingerie contests during the Super Bowl and being the subject of a six-page profile in Playboy magazine.
The success of Bodog attracted the attention of US officials when Forbes magazine profiled Ayre with a front cover entitled: “Catch Me If You Can: Calvin Ayre has gotten very rich by taking illegal bets over the internet.”
Ayre said the moves he made were legal because of a complicated series of financial transactions on three various continents.
Felony charges against Ayre, Bodog and three other Canadian men were eventually dropped last year.
