By Mike McPhee, Denver Post Staff Writer
The Denver Post Online. Oct. 8

Oct. 8 - A federal judge in Denver has ordered the arrest of a British man who allegedly sold real estate in Cuba while posing as an agent for the Denver-based Re/Max brokerage company.

U.S. District Judge John L. Kane ordered that Stephen Anthony Marshall be arrested for contempt of court. Last June, Kane issued a preliminary injunction barring Marshall from using the Re/Max trademark while selling property in the tourist zone of Havana. Kane also ordered that Marshall be subjected to a $1,000-per-day fine as long as he continues to defy the injunction.

"We are pleased with the action of the court,'' said Re/Max President Daryl Jesperson. "Re/Max is not doing business in Cuba and, despite statements attributed to Mr. Marshall, has never authorized any entity to use the Re/Max trade name in Cuba. We will not allow anyone to use the Re/Max name illegally.''

Jesperson said Marshall was hired as a Re/Max agent in the Turks and Caicos Islands, just south of the Bahamas, two years ago. Marshall traveled to Denver, where he attended training programs and was photographed upon his graduation shaking hands with Re/Max founder Dave Liniger.

Last winter, Marshall allegedly set up an Internet site using the Re/Max name, its trademark balloon logo and the photo of he and Liniger shaking hands. He then allegedly began selling condominiums to foreigners through an arrangement he'd made between his Panama-based company, Cimex, and Cuban President Fidel Castro.

All real property in Cuba has been owned by the government since Castro came to power in 1959. However, the Cuban government passed a law two years ago allowing foreign citizens to purchase certain property that had been rehabbed or recently constructed in a designated tourist zone inside the city limits of Havana. U.S. citizens are not included under this law.

Jesperson said he first found out about Marshall's Re/Max scam when he learned that Marshall would be speaking at an investment seminar held in Cancun, Mexico, last May.

Copyright 1999 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.

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