The SEC charged a Los Angeles-based immigration attorney, his wife, and his law firm partner with conducting an investment scheme to defraud foreign investors trying to come to the U.S. through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.
The SEC alleges that the three individuals raised nearly $11.5 million from two dozen investors seeking to participate in the EB-5 program, which provides immigrants an opportunity to apply for U.S. residency by investing in a domestic project to create jobs for U.S. workers. They informed investors that they would be EB-5 eligible if they invested in an ethanol production plant they would build and operate in Ulysses, Kan. However, investors’ money was misappropriated for other uses instead of the ethanol plant project. The plant was never built and the promised jobs never created, yet they continued to misrepresent to investors that the project was ongoing.
In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California today announced criminal charges against the attorney.
