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December 23, 2010
In Reuters investigation of EB-5 program, NYC Regional Center principal admits lies in arena project pitch, but blames affiliates. That's not so.
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder's EB-5 series appears to have caught the eye of the folks at Reuters.
A major investigation of the EB-5 immigration visa program by Reuters, Special report: Overselling the American dream overseas, turns up numerous reasons for skepticism and an admission by a principal of the New York City Regional Center (NYCRC) that potential investors have been lied to about the Brooklyn Arena and Infrastructure project.
Astonishingly, however, the NYCRC's George Olsen gets away with blaming immigration brokers in foreign lands--in this case, Korea, not China--rather than acknowledging, or being forced to acknowledge, that the same statements have been made, in documents and on video, by the NYCRC itself.
In South Korea
Reuters reports:
At a recent seminar in Seoul, an agent for the Kookmin Migration Consulting Co., working on behalf of the New York City Regional Center, told would-be investors if they invested in the company's latest project their permanent green cards were "guaranteed." He also implied the investors would be financing the construction of the new home for the New Jersey Nets NBA basketball team.
In a subsequent interview with Reuters, George Olsen, managing principal of the New York City Regional Center acknowledged the claims were "not accurate" - the investors will finance the rebuilding of a rail yard and some related infrastructure near the new basketball court -- and promised he would jump on Kookmin "with two feet."
"But that's what's frustrating," Olsen said. "You can't be at every seminar, you can't be at every meeting, you can't be in the room when one of these people is talking. To raise $100 million, you have to get 200 investors. That's a lot of people. So there's a certain amount of mass marketing that has to go on. And once you get into that realm, it's hard to control."
Oh, come now. The same statements have been made by the NYCRC's Gregg D. Hayden in China, as I've documented. Here's my FAQ, and here's a report, with video.
NoLandGrab: Oh, please. Yes, we got caught, but it's "these people" [read: untrustworthy yellow people] who are the problem. Except it's your own right-hand man doing the lying — ON TAPE! HELLO?!
Posted by eric at December 23, 2010 11:00 PM