Developer, buyers wage war over Panama island project - Sacramento Business Journal:
Fred Pilot sends this along, which is the story that you needed a subscription to read as linked below:

Granite Bay developer Shepard Johnson fell in love with Isla Solarte, a rustic paradise of sunshine and palms off the coast of eastern Panama, while touring the Caribbean years ago. He thought the small island had the same potential as Maui as a tourist destination, and in 1995 he launched a plan to develop and sell land there, largely to Americans looking to build inexpensive vacation or retirement homes. Now, he says he can't go back because he's facing criminal charges.