El Monte Regional Center Terminated
News reports on October 12, 2011 that USCIS have terminated the El Monte Regional Center in California, due to possible misuse of funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development Office.
Problematic Developers
The El Monte Regional Center attracted only two foreign investors in three years. It is set up to attract foreign investors to contribute to the Transit village project. The developer, Transit Village, LLC proposed building a $1 billion residential and commercial village around a Metropolitan Transportation Authority regional bus station.
In 2009, two executives from the Transit Village LLC, Jogh Leung and Jean Lang, were arrested on felony charges of fraud and embezzlement. Later the company was acquired by Cross Ocean Holdings, a company owned by Chinese developer Bang Zhao Lin. Transit Village LLC is suing El Monte for US$18 million money it says it lost on the project. The city and developers are engaged in multiple bankruptcy battles.
Funnel Money from Foreign investors
Another reason El Monte Regional Center raises a red flag to the city officials is that Transit Village’s current holding company executive Jenny Pei Lin, was among one of the people who are now in hiding because of the failure of a similar fraudulent investment project San Bruno. Chinese investors are claiming a group of individual defrauded them of US$3 million, meant for a proposed Chinese restaurant, through the San Bruno EB-5 program. The foreign investors are funneling money, but that money is then misappropriated. The project failed EB-5 visas were denied. When the investors asked for their money back, they got the run around, including one man Sammy Lee possibly faking his death at a karaoke bar.
Second Regional Center Ever Shut Down
El Monte Regional Center was only the second time federal authorities have shut down a regional center since the EB-5 pilot program started in 1992. The only other regional center ever closed by USCIS was Victorville program in July 2010. The Victorville program focuses on logistics airport wastewater facility. According to USCIS the project was likely unviable a material misrepresentation of the capital investment opportunities that are available.
Yi Song, Esq.
Source from: EB-5 Visa News