On the western border of Florida’s Ocala national forest, an hour’s drive north of Orlando, there is a half-acre plot that may soon be the subject of international litigation. Not for its contents — the site still sits undeveloped and has been reclaimed by woodland — but over its owner.
Records at Marion County’s property appraiser show the tract was bought two decades ago by Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, the former land minister of Bangladesh.
The $48,000 purchase was one of Chowdhury’s first pieces in an extraordinary real estate empire built up, for the most part, while he served as an MP in the government of Sheikh Hasina. The FT has identified 482 properties acquired by Chowdhury or his close family at a cost of at least $295mn between 1992 and 2024.