For Sale: Greek Islands

Shortly before Easter in 2008, Antoine Maalouf arrived at the offices of the Greek Tourism Minister with an unusual request: He wanted to buy a Greek island. The 63-year-old general director of the Monaco-based investment company MMC Group slid €15 billion, in the form of guarantees issued by some of the largest financial institutions in the U.S. and Europe, across the mahogany conference table, right under the minister's nose.

Maalouf's idea was simple. He and his investor group would pay €120 million for Patroklos Island—a barren 1,000-acre strip in the Saronic Gulf nicknamed "Donkey Island" by fisherman—and construct a Las Vegas-style theme park. It was a short boat ride from Athens, and Maalouf planned to pack it with casinos, golf courses, luxury accommodations for 50,000 people, and a marina for thousands of yachts. The project would employ 8,000 Greeks at a time when the country was hurting for jobs. Donatella Versace had signed on to build a luxury hotel.