Pacific Northwest Cross Border Law
Immigration Law, Blaine, WA
On September 6, 2018 the SEC filed a complaint against Joel Burstein for conduct related to a fraudulent scheme connected to an EB-5 regional center. The SEC alleges that Mr. Burstein aided and abetted fraud “in connection with the purchase or sale” of securities, and aided and abetted fraud in the offer or sale of… Read More
This suit has been a long time coming. Both the SEC and the Department of Homeland Security have been aware of the issues with this project since at least as early as March 31, 2015. Investors in this project filed suit against the regional center, the promoters, and others in March 2015. The hotel at… Read More
Order Instituting Proceedings On June 23, 2015 the SEC initiated the first action “against brokers handling investments in the government’s EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.” According to the Order Instituting Proceedings (“OIP”), Stephen Parnell and Andrew Bartlett formed Ireeco, LLC in 2006 in Boca Raton, Florida. Similarly, they formed Ireeco, Ltd. in 2012 in Hong Kong… Read More
Recently US Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) began posting some of the Termination Notices for regional centers that have lost their designation. While not every Termination Notice has been published, some patterns have emerged as to the common reasons for termination. Read More
In a recent call with EB-5 stakeholders, USCIS discussed several tips for avoiding EB-5 fraud. Similar tips can be found on the SEC’s website, which includes an investor alert issued in 2013. Some of the tips, however, may be less than effective. For example, asking if the promoters are being paid will not help if the promoters do not tell the truth. Instead of relying on the word of promoters, prospective EB-5 investors may want to focus on conducting independent research and learning from SEC enforcement actions in the EB-5 context. Read More
USCIS held an EB-5 stakeholder engagement call on November 7, 2017 and has published its talking points from the call on its website. Highlights from the call include discussions of the Regional Center Compliance Review Program, customer service, and how to avoid being a fraud victim. Additional topics included the use of “hybrid teams” to adjudicate… Read More
On January 18, 2002 the SEC issued a ‘No Action’ letter to CanAccord Capital Corporation (“CanAccord”), which was actively seeking “investments” for an immigrant investor program in Quebec, Canada. Unlike section 203(b)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the statute governing the Quebec immigrant investor program explicitly provides for reimbursement. Act Respecting Immigration to Quebec… Read More