"Christopher Pearson, the former Mashantucket Pequot tribal executive accused of bilking fellow tribal members out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in a Honduran casino development scheme, is scheduled to go on trial next month in U.S. District Court.

Based on records in Pequot tribal court, where a civil suit against Pearson has been brought by investors in his project, the federal trial could turn out to be as entertaining as anything on Court TV.

The development that court documents say was at the heart of a grand plan Pearson sold to friends and colleagues, including a former chief operating officer of the tribe and a one-time tribal councilor, was for an elaborate casino resort on Man-O-War Key on the island of Roatan in Honduras.

In one of a series of e-mails to the investors - now part of the tribal court record - Pearson quoted a consultant who promised to put the Honduran project on a par with Disney.

One of the themes was going to be Pirates of the Caribbean, and Johnny Depp was suggested to investors as a possible sponsor."

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David Collins: Casino 'Dream' A Lawsuit Nightmare (The New London Day 12/3)