You MUST do PROPER and CONFLICT FREE due diligence on your EB-5 investment if you want to avoid losing your investment and, most importantly, if you want to retain your green card and stay in the U.S. For some more information watch the video below:
EB-5 investors need to understand that just because the U.S. Government authorizes a Regional Center or an EB-5 project, it does NOT mean the U.S. government has in any way determined that the project is well-conceived and is being offered or operated by competent and ethical promotors. Look at the Jay Peak project, the Seabreeze 550 (Los Olas) project, the Campo Felice project, and many other projects around the country for evidence of the truth of this statement. In our experience, many EB-5 investors mistakenly believe the U.S. government’s approval of the project somehow constitutes due diligence.
Recommendations For A EB-5 Are Only As Good As The Person Recommending It
EB-5 investors need to understand that a recommendation to invest in a particular EB-5 project is a virtually WORTHLESS recommendation if the person or entity making the recommendation is receiving compensation if you invest in the EB-5 project. A person or entity that is getting paid to recommend an EB-5 investment, including your purportedly trusted immigration attorney, is a salesman and nothing more. In our experience, many EB-5 investors mistakenly rely on someone who is getting paid to recommend EB-5 investments to invest in an EB-5 project. This does not in any way, shape, or form, constitute due diligence even if the recommendation is being made by your immigration attorney.
EB-5 investors need to understand that it is foolish to avoid spending 1% of the purchase price of an EB-5 investment to hire someone competent and free of conflicts of interest to conduct due diligence on one or more EB-5 investments being considered. As we say in the U.S., “hope is not a plan” and hoping the EB-5 recommended to you is a good one because your immigration attorney recommended it (and it sounds like it might be a good idea) is not a plan. A plan is hiring an independent person or entity qualified to investigate EB-5 investments and rely on their analysis before you invest. This is what we mean when we say due diligence.
Always Take Action
And, for investors who did not follow the advice above and who invested in a failing or failed EB-5 project, we have the same advice: “Hope is not a plan.” If you have an EB-5 investment that concerns you, then you need to take action and not hope it works out at the end. Taking action is expensive and burdensome, but the alternative is waiting for the project to fail and losing the entire investment along with a chance at permanent residency.
Historically, investors from China are most interested in the EB-5 program (as well as investors from Brazil, Great Britain, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, Russia, and Iran). Of course, we anticipate that this will become popular with many more foreign countries in the coming years due to a number of factors, including the fact that more and more foreign investors are looking for ways to invest their money in the United States. We believe bad EB-5 investments are bad for the U.S. economy, bad for U.S. reputation abroad, and create an avenue for bad actors in the U.S. to take advantage of innocent, but vulnerable investors and we want to put a stop to it so that well-conceived and well operated EB-5 projects can flourish for the benefit of the U.S. economy, U.S. workers, and foreign investors.
Vernon Litigation Group
At Vernon Litigation Group, we focus on protecting investors from professional incompetence, conflicts of interest, and fraud which result in significant losses or other damage. Our EB-5 practice includes pre-investment due diligence as well as investigations and prosecutions to recover significant damage that has already occurred. We offer representation nationwide and to foreign investors living abroad.
For more information, contact:
Phone: (239) 319-4434
E-mail: info@vernonlitigation.com