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December 8, 2010
Anatomy of a Shady Deal: Norman Oder Takes A Close Look At Ratner's Quest for Money in China
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
While The New York Times publishes its third article about The Civilians' extraordinary production of "In The Footprint: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards" (and we congratulate The Civilians for this deserved accomplishment and the rave reviews the play has been receiving) Norman Oder has been running an extensive series on Bruce Ratner's shady cash for green cards scheme otherwise known as the EB-5 program. The Times has not once made mention of this highly questionable use of the little-known immigration program.
...It is a complicated issue which boils down to this: The Ratner crew and its public and private enablers are gaming this federal EB-5 immigration program by making stuff up, deceiving potential Chinese investors, double counting and wildly exaggerating job numbers all to pump up the developer's bottom line rather than benefit the public.
In other words: The usual, only overseas.
Posted by eric at December 8, 2010 10:02 PM