Federal government says Vermont failed to prevent EB-5 fraud

Vermont state officials bear some responsibility for what authorities say was a complex fraud in the Northeast Kingdom, concludes a recent U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service report.

Federal and state officials have accused businessmen Ariel Quiros and Bill Stenger of misusing about $200 million of EB-5 foreign investor funds at Jay Peak and elsewhere in the Northeast Kingdom. The eight Jay Peak-related projects were approved and promoted by state government officials at the Vermont EB-5 Regional Center in the Agency of Commerce and Community Development.

The federal government doled out blame in a report dated August 14, which says Vermont's EB-5 Regional Center should be shut down because it "failed to properly engage in management, monitoring and oversight for many years."

The federal government says Vermont "relied excessively — if not primarily — on the third-party project managers to perform oversight functions, rather than taking on those responsibilities itself."

Read more: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/politics/government/2017/08/24/federal-government-says-vermont-failed-prevent-eb-5-fraud/590059001/