Pavel Boguslavovich Belogour

Belarusian currency speculator named Pavel Boguslavovich Belogour is buying up huge swaths of tiny Vermont—thousands of acres, and even patches of land over the border in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Belogour, who goes by “Paul,” was received as something of a novelty. But a few months before the pandemic, Belogour’s shopping spree accelerated. The 50-year-old multimillionaire, whose exact net worth is unknown, began closing real estate deals at a rapid clip. In the past two years alone, the foreign exchange trader has snagged more than 3,100 acres across three Vermont counties, including 10 buildings, lots, and businesses, at a cost of more than $3 million. The rapid consolidation of land became a cause for some concern earlier this month, when four local news outlets announced that he had bought them all. In total, he acquired two local newspapers, The Brattleboro Reformer and The Bennington Banner; a weekly called The Manchester Journal; and the bi-monthly UpCountry Magazine. On Friday, the currency trader with no prior news experience was named president and publisher of all four. Belogour’s magnum opus is his “Viking Village,” which he has been constructing on a parcel of his Guilford property. The themed tourist destination, slated to open this summer, will be equipped with Nordic cabins, a communal “mess hall,” ATV tours, dog-sledding, and historical reenactors, who will perform traditional ceremonies and staged Viking combat. As an economics student at Northeastern University, Belogour was awarded his own patent for developing a shock absorber for roller skates. He entered the foreign exchange industry shortly after college, working at the Bank of Boston for six years, before establishing his first forex firm. He began developing a trading software called UniTrader, and opened a second forex company, Boston Merchant Financial Ltd, or BMFN (the “FN” stands for “financial”). He sold BMFN five years ago and his time there was fraught with legal challenges from regulators and competitors. Between 2012 and 2015, BMFN faced three federal lawsuits. Belogour insists he cut ties with BMFN, business filings show that he continues to operate an LLC out of Massachusetts by the same name. Corporate records filed in Massachusetts indicate that the entity was established in 2016 and remains active. The most recent annual report was filed in January. In fact, many of Belogour’s more recent property purchases list “BMFN LLC” on the deeds.