I read an article on the NatLawReview.com website by Ali Brodie, encouraging support for HR 616. Ali Brodie falsely claims that the EB-5 program is at risk of expiring on 30th September 2015, and the fact is, dishonest lawyers are known to make misleading statements in order to help their clients achieve their goals in an unethical manner. Greenberg Traurig is a law firm with a long and colourful history, and a great example of their values can be found in the Jack Abramoff story. I am sure that Ali Brodie actually read the text of the bill, and deliberately penned an inaccurate article, unless she would have us believe that she writes without even knowing what she is talking about.
The truth is, only the regional center program is expiring on September 30th 2015 and that the EB-5 program is actually permanent. HR 616 does NOTHING effective to protect EB-5 visa investors from fraud and does nothing to address the fact that regional centers usually market and sell securities in an unlawful manner in China, India, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, etc.
The fact is, Genuine Direct Investment Businesses are the only safe and effective way for EB-5 visa investors to go forward as the potential for fraud and conflict of interest is basically non-existent.
The fact is, Jared Polis is realizing that the regional center extension bill has no chance of passing, which is why he is now resorting to Op-Eds as are the folks from IIUSA and Ms. Ali Brodie from Greenberg Traurig.
I wrote the following letter to Jared Polis telling him in exact detail WHY HR 616 should NOT be extended.
Dear Representative Polis,
My name is Mohammed Shaikh, and I've been a Certified Fraud Examiner for over a decade, and have an MBA in Accounting. I am writing to request you to vote against HR 616 as it is being used to extend regional centers.
First and foremost, this bill is not to extend the EB-5 visa program, which is permanent, it is to extend the regional center program, and this is opposed by DHS-OIG, USCIS - FDNS, ICE - HSI, Dept of State investigators, SEC, IRS - CID, FBI, etc. due to the facts mentioned below. Just today, DHS OIG released a news report that showed how Senator Harry Reid and Alejandro Mayorkas colluded to help 2 regional centers ILLEGALLY obtain EB-5 visas in a fraudulent manner. The summary of the report is available in a news release at http://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/pr/2015/oigpr_032415.pdf.
The following are the reasons you and every single member of the house should vote against this bill:
1) ICE-HSI has strongly recommended that regional centers be permanently removed from the EB-5 visa program due to the fact that every single regional center has illegally marketed and sold securities overseas. You can read the redacted version of the confidential ICE memo recommending shutdown of the regional center program at http://www.smartbusinessbroker.com/EB5_ICE_fraud_memo.pdf or you can directly contact Senator Grassley's office to receive an unrestricted version of the confidential ICE memo. Not only are there strong national security concerns, but there is rampant securities fraud, securities law violations, money laundering and conflict of interest seen in the regional center program. You can also review the DHS OIG Report on regional centers in the EB-5 visa program at http://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/Mgmt/2014/OIG_14-19_Dec13.pdf in order to confirm that I speak the truth.
2) SEC has also advised EB-5 visa investors to avoid regional centers due to the fact that securities fraud is quite common in the regional center program. See the SEC memo at http://www.sec.gov/investor/alerts/ia_immigrant.htm
3) I've personally checked with CSRC and can confirm that out of the over 500 regional centers that have marketed and sold securities in China, not even one has done so in a legal manner. Chinese law requires that any marketing or sale of securities in China be done only after receiving approval from the CSRC, and you are welcome to personally check with CSRC that none of these regional centers has lawfully offered or sold securities in China. Similarly, regional centers have also illegally marketed and sold securities in India, Russia, Ukraine, Mexico, GCC countries, etc. You are welcome to hold a public hearing on this and I will fly over to DC and testify under oath that regional centers have illegally marketed and sold securities worth over $10 BILLION dollars, and caused capital loss worth BILLIONS of dollars to EB-5 visa investors. If you don't trust me, please ask the regional centers to offer CPA audited financials for review so that you can confirm that capital loss is almost certain when EB-5 visa investors invest in regional centers. Do you want to say that you support a program whose beneficiaries routinely violate the laws of foreign nations as a standard business practice?
4) Regional Centers usually engage in undisclosed conflict of interest, by buying or procuring goods and services from related parties at inflated prices, due to which losses are induced, and these losses are unfairly passed on to EB-5 visa investors.
5) Regional centers offer inflated and unrealistic employment generation figures in order to justify green cards. They have an unfair advantage over Direct Investments as they can count indirect jobs, and the GAO audits show that usually those indirect jobs aren't created.
6) Regional centers usually launder funds in order to move them from China. For instance, Chinese citizens can only remit USD 50,000 per year, and in order to circumvent China's currency controls, they launder funds through their friends and family and send their funds to the US. This means that according to both Chinese and US law, those funds are laundered and illicit, and thus subject to seizure and forfeiture under the AML statutes. However, instead of seizing these funds, we help the Chinese launder them through regional centers and give them green cards as an added bonus.
7) Most of the EB-5 visa investors from China, Russia and India are using illicit funds in order to fraudulently obtain EB-5 visas. EB-5 visa investors have to furnish a paper trail, and most of them furnish forged and fraudulent documents in order to conceal the illicit origins of their funds. I suggest that you can check with ICE-HSI to confirm that money laundering is quite rampant in the regional center program, with over 90% of the funds being the proceeds of crimes such as drug trafficking, corruption, intellectual property theft, etc.
8) There are numerous instances where regional centers have illegally and fraudulently obtained EB-5 visas for their investors at the behest of politicians such as Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, Terry McAuliffe, etc. Just search online for terms such as "Tony Rodham + EB-5 visa + Alejandro Mayorkas" or "Harry Reid + EB-5 visa + Alejandro Mayorkas" etc.
9) Most EB-5 visa investors who invest in regional centers do not get a permanent green card, and you can confirm this by asking the USCIS IIO to furnish records in order for you to independently verify this. As they fail to help investors in getting a permanent green card, it is better to shut down the regional center program.
Due to the fact that we know that regional centers only offer and sell securities illegally and violate the law by doing so, and due to the fact that they engage in rampant fraud and conflict of interest, I urge you to vote against this bill.
I thank you in advance for your kind co-operation and remain,
Yours truly
Mohammed Shaikh, MBA (Accounting), Certified Fraud Examiner
Phone: +1 407 535 0616
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