Nano acquired the island for little money while living in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the early 1990s, and was later involved in several schemes to sell the property for far more than its actual value.

By April, Vizzion Europe agreed to buy Petit Mustique for $62 million in order to develop a luxury hotel and resort, as Nano assured the company the island was flat, clear, and with a large and easily accessible beach.

[2] In October 2007, however, after $2.1 million had already been paid to Nano, Vizzion Europe discovered that the island was hilly, without beaches, and surrounded by powerful currents that prevented easy landing.

While filing a lawsuit against Nano, Vizzion Europe discovered that he was already wanted on charges of fraud and money laundering in the United States and Italy as well as Belgium.

[11] While contending with Vizzion Europe in Belgian court, Nano continued to shop Petite Mustique to private buyers, arranging a sale to Ilyas Khrapunov, son of the Kazakh oligarch and government minister Mukhtar Ablyazov.

Upon Khrapunov's subsequent discovery that the island was not what he had been promised, Nano refused to return the $500,000 deposit he had received and moved to South America,[2] managing to carry off a scam against the Paraguayan government in 2010 also involving the sale of property.

[2] In November 2018, Nano was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay a fine of €192,500 for defrauding Vizzion Europe about the condition of Petite Mustique.