FBI investigation into S.D.'s EB-5 program is 'active'
Source: Sioux Falls Argus Leader
A year and a half after state officials first became aware of an FBI investigation into South Dakota's EB-5 program, the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday confirmed that the investigation remains "active."
"We have an active investigation involving the, I believe it's the South Dakota Regional Center," said Kyle Loven, chief division counsel for the FBI's Minneapolis division.
Loven refused to provide more information about the investigation.
"As it is an active investigation, I'm not in a position to provide any details," Loven said.
Read more: http://www.argusleader.com/story/davidmontgomery/2014/10/22/fbi-eb5-investigation-active/17731237/
IthinkThereforeIAM
(3,077 posts)... more need to see this and what happens when open government laws are disregarded and everybody in the South Dakota GOP does their choreographed, "River Dance", (capitol is on the Missouri River at Pierre). Foot dragging by committee chairpersons, the usual lag between legal correspondences, etc... they don't want anyone to find anything out until AFTER THE ELECTION and Rounds is installed.
See this link for some background, you can get lost at the Madville Times for hours tracing the paths: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014924330
Algernon Moncrieff
(5,790 posts)The Immigrant Investor Program, also known as the EB-5 Program, was authorized by the United States Congress in 1990, to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) administers the EB-5 Program, which provides a method for foreign investors to obtain a green card by investing $1,000,000 and creating or preserving at least 10 full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers.
The Regional Center Pilot Program, which was enacted in 1992, provides for a minimum foreign investment of $500,000 under the EB-5 Program for investments made in Targeted Employment Areas (high unemployment or rural area), in addition to counting both direct and indirect job creation for purposes of meeting the requirement of creating or preserving at least 10 full-time jobs. A rural area is defined as any area outside a metropolitan statistical area (as designated by the Office of Management and Budget) or outside the boundary of any city or town having a population of 20,000 or more according to the decennial census.
The Governors Office of Economic Development (GOED) manages the South Dakota Regional Center, which has been approved and designated by the USCIS as a Regional Center, within the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program since 2004. GOED is responsible for approving qualifying projects within the Regional Centers geographic boundaries and for filing documentation required under the EB-5 Program with the USCIS.
Refer also to....
http://www.argusleader.com/story/davidmontgomery/2014/09/08/south-dakota-eb5/15293521/
It was hard work for a tiny agency at Northern State University to recruit and manage millions of dollars in overseas EB-5 investments. So in January 2008 that agency's director, Joop Bollen, signed a contract with a private firm to help manage the investment program.
What Bollen didn't disclose in the contract was that he owned that private firm, SDRC Inc. Bollen, a public employee as director of the South Dakota International Business Institute, had founded SDRC Inc. five days before signing the deal.
Bollen's agency and Bollen's company would work closely together the company collecting millions of dollars in fees from investors in that time for two more years before he left state employment.
The agreement was among a packet of documents distributed by the South Dakota Democratic Party on Monday as part of an effort to link the controversial EB-5 program with Republican candidates, including former Gov. Mike Rounds. The timing of the deal, and Bollen's apparent self-dealing, were little known, including among his bosses in the university system.