The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today announced charges and an asset freeze against an individual living in Illinois and two companies behind an investment scheme defrauding foreign investors seeking profitable returns and a legal path to U.S. residency through a federal visa program.
"A Chicago Convention Center" (ACCC) and Intercontinental Regional Center Trust of Chicago (IRCTC), owned and operated by a 29 year old Chicago, Illinois resident named Anshoo R. Sethi was seized by the SEC. The SEC alleged that IRCTC and Sethi have fraudulently sold more than $145 million in securities and collected $11 million in administrative fees from more than 250 investors primarily from China, duping investors into believing that by purchasing interests in ACCC they would be getting US permanent residence ("green cards") through the Immigrant Investor Program known as "EB-5" when many of the claims Sethi and his companies made to those investors were false.
Although Sethi and his companies have already spent about $10 million out of which $2.5 million were directed overseas to Sethi's personal bank account in Hong Kong, the SEC and USCIS' swift intervention ensured that the investment fund still had a remaining balance of $145 million in the account.
This case is currently still under further investigation and subsequent legal actions are expected upon the completion of the investigation.
If you can read Chinese, here's another article we wrote in more details about the "Chicago Scandａｌ" and you can click this link here to the article titled: "EB-5 Scandal: 芝加哥丑闻 in Chinese."
If you wish to know more about this article or you have a question about or interest in the EB-5 program, either as a Regional Center operator or private individual investor, you can send your email to us at:
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