ICE - HSI proposes severe new restrictions on regional centers as one more regional center faces investigation for laundering funds. EB-5 visa investors should choose Genuine Direct Investment Businesses to avoid having their funds seized and visas denied!

CNN just published a story about how a regional center laundered funds and potentially helped Iranian operatives get EB-5 visas. The link is at http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/12/11/first-on-cnn-us-probes-whether-iranians-exploited-visa-program/  There is other non-public information will gradually come to the light in the coming days, and this pertains to individuals with the initials SN and JM laundering a serious amount of money in one regional center while a prominent individual with the initials WB may be indicted soon enough for his role in securities fraud and securities law violations in another regional center, due to which several EB-5 visa investors are expected to see their visas denied or revoked. The proposed ICE - HSI recommendations are mentioned in http://www.smartbusinessbroker.com/EB5_ICE_fraud_memo.pdf and they clearly mention 3 proposals that will shut down regional centers PERMANENTLY. These changes are expected to be made within the next 15 months as the Senate and House will be controlled by Republicans from next November onwards (and yes, you can bet your bottom dollar on it)! The legislative changes proposed by HSI were: "(1) doubling the minimum investment amount, (2) limiting the program to allow only active investors involved in managing and directing a business enterprise, and (3) eliminating the consideration of induced jobs for meeting the requirements of the program. The HSI memo makes clear that overall, HSI believes the Regional Center model has significant flaws and should be abandoned: “The principal change proposed by HSI was that the Regional Center Model be allowed to sunset, as HSI maintains there are no safeguards that can be put in place that will ensure the integrity of the RC (regional center) model.”  ICE even says: "In addition to the information gap on EB-5 beneficiaries there are procedural issues associated with the approval and operation of RCs that lead to vulnerability. The HSI review has uncovered serious concerns about the credibility of the RC platform. The nature of indirect job growth is problematic, and based almost solely on a RC's job creation methodology as described in applications to USCIS. HSI conducted research using job creation statistics used by large corporations and the U.S. government stimulus package, and has reason to believe that the RCs are greatly exaggerating their indirect and induced job creation figures. By not having to provide evidence of jobs directly created, the RC inherently creates an opportunity for fraud, where the business goal can be initiating projects that give the appearance of creating job growth, with the sole intent to meet USCIS criteria rather than produce jobs."

When ICE - HSI itself goes on the record and says that after extensive research, they have reached the conclusion that there is NOTHING that can be done to ensure integrity in the regional center model, EB-5 visa investors should realise that regional centers should be AVOIDED at all costs! I've been saying for years what 4 US government agencies (SEC, FBI, USCIS and ICE) are saying now, which is: Regional Centers are inherently unsafe for EB-5 visa investors, and Genuine Direct Investment Businesses are the ONLY safe choice for EB-5 visa investors.

As EB-5 visa investors know, regional centers were already engaged in violations of securities laws, securities fraud and money laundering, but this takes the sensitivity to an entirely new level, as the GOP may well use legitimate national security and crime fighting concerns to come down hard on Democrat allied regional centers such as GCFM (which had Terry McAuliffe and Hillary Clinton’s kid brother Anthony involved in securities fraud, securities law violations AND money laundering) to Bay Area Regional Centre (where his Willieness has done quite well) to American Dream as well as probably US Freedom Capital, American Life and Pacifica too. 

After all, when multiple goals CAN be achieved with one initiative, and the GOP gets to totally hamstring Hillary’s bid for the presidency and legitimately ruin the political careers of several prominent Democrat politicians such as Harry Reid, Terry McAuliffe, Hillary Clinton and others, they’d be stupid to let that opportunity go to waste.

The fact is, there is NO ambiguity when it comes to defining the best option for EB-5 visa investors, and any objective attorney and CPA will clearly advise EB-5 visa investors to choose a Genuine Direct Investment Business and avoid regional centers and partnerships due to fraud, conflict of interest, mismanagement, low returns and terrible exit strategies.

 EB-5 visa seekers should remember that Genuine Direct Investment businesses are THE BEST option to get the EB-5 visa quickly, safely and usually profitably for the following reasons:

1. Faster processing and approval times.
2. Easy exit strategy.
3. Investors usually get a much higher Return on Investment.
4. Investors usually get a much higher Capital gain, whereas regional center investors usually get capital losses.
5. Our clients have a 100% approval rate of I-526 and I-829, while those who choose regional centers or other partnerships don't.
6. Our clients have very little risk as we conduct extensive due diligence and work hard to prevent fraud and conflict of interest, whereas regional centers and partnerships are overrun with fraud and conflict of interest.
7. Full control of business and capital, which helps prevent fraud, conflict of interest and losses.

EB-5 visa investors need to remember that we offer THE BEST service when it comes to offering a turnkey solution for the following reasons:

1.  Our clients ALWAYS have full control of their business and their money. Those who choose regional centers and partnerships usually have to kiss their money goodbye, and are STUCK for 5-9 years.
2. We offer a written guarantee of freedom from fraud and conflict of interest, whereas our competitors usually don't offer this guarantee.
3. We offer a written guarantee of FULL disclosure of material facts on an ongoing basis, whereas our competitors usually don't offer this guarantee.
4. We offer a written guarantee of full fee refund in case a client is rejected due to our team's fault, while our competitors usually don't offer this guarantee because they are incompetent cowards who are unsure about the quality of their work.
5. Since 2004, our clients have NEVER been denied at the I-526 and I-829 stage, and have NEVER suffered operating or capital losses, and have usually earned over 22% annual Return on Equity because of our focus on due diligence and our extensive efforts to reduce risk by preventing fraud and conflict of interest. Try finding a regional center or partnership that boasts of this record.
6. We are quite objective in our assessments, and owe a fiduciary duty to our EB-5 visa investor clients, while those who sell regional center and partnership securities usually do not owe fiduciary duties to EB-5 visa investors. In plain words, we are required by law to put our clients interests first, and we do so because it helps us more than it helps our clients! We advise our clients diligently and help them make solid decisions.
7. We are probably the ONLY firm that actually encourages our clients to always stay in full control of their business and their funds at every stage as this helps us avoid escrow accounting and reduces potential for fraud, embezzlement and litigation.

If you're an EB-5 visa investor who wants to get their green card quickly, safely and in a usually profitable manner, please contact us. You'll be glad you did!

Yours truly,

Mohammed Shaikh, Licensed RE and Business Broker (CA & FL)

Phone: +1 407 535 0616 Online: htttp://www.smartbusinessbroker.com