SEC Obtains Final Judgments against Immigration Attorneys Who Defrauded Investors Seeking U.S. Residency

The SEC obtained final judgments against a former immigration attorney, his wife, his former law firm partner and five entities he controlled for conducting an investment scheme to defraud foreign investors seeking to come to the U.S. through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.

The SEC alleged that the defendants raised nearly $11.5 million from two dozen investors who sought 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. The two attorneys told investors that they would be EB-5 eligible if they invested in an ethanol production plant the defendants would build and operate in Ulysses, Kansas. Instead, the defendants misappropriated the investors' monies. The plant was never built and the promised jobs never created, yet the attorneys continued to misrepresent to investors that the project was ongoing.

The judgment orders that the defendants are jointly and severally liable for disgorgement of $7,210,000, together with interest of $1,052,403.73, for a total of $8,262,403.73.