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December 27, 2010
Reuters Nails Promoters of Green Cards for Investments as Liars, Gets Dubious Excuses on Brooklyn Arena
The Huffington Post
by Norman Oder
Norman Oder repackages some recent Atlantic Yards Report coverage of Bruce Ratner's green cards-for-dollars scheme, including a key player's dubious "hey, we're the victims here" claim about sales pitches packed with lies.
A couple of astonishing things happened last week in coverage of the EB-5 immigration visa program--green cards for investments--the dubious use of which I've investigated for months regarding Atlantic Yards, the controversial arena-plus-towers megaproject in Brooklyn.
Reuters, in "Special report: Overselling the American dream overseas," pointed to numerous problems in this essentially unregulated program, in which businesses and developers seeking cheap capital compete to recruit immigrant investors, who must park $500,000 in a purportedly job-creating investment in exchange for green cards for themselves and their families.
Many would-be immigrants don't get their green cards. Many don't get their money back. And many are misled by immigration brokers pimping the investment projects. And some of the regional centers--the federally-authorized investment pools that market the projects--are quite shady.
Posted by eric at December 27, 2010 3:48 PM