Great piece Norm. Coincidentally after reading this article I received an email from the New Yorker with a new piece about EB-5 loans and their consequences in Vermont. Wonder if same parallels can be drawn with AY.
“There’s almost no one looking out for the public interest, to ensure that not only the letter but the spirit of the law is being met in terms of creating jobs.”
***
I'll note this quote in the New Yorker, "On balance, it’s a good program,” Stephen Yale-Loehr, a law professor at Cornell, said."
I think the conclusion in the New Yorker is sound, as I've written similarly: "The whole program, it turned out, lent itself to dishonesty. Faraway investors were desperate to get to the U.S., and didn’t keep close track of where their money was going. The lawyers and brokers got large transaction fees and had little incentive to point out potential wrongdoing."
So while Atlantic Yards EB-5 "projects" may not be fraudulent in the way the Vermont project was, there's ample evidence of misleading marketing, etc.
Great piece Norm. Coincidentally after reading this article I received an email from the New Yorker with a new piece about EB-5 loans and their consequences in Vermont. Wonder if same parallels can be drawn with AY.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/05/the-rural-ski-slope-caught-up-in-an-international-scam?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_013124&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&utm_term=tny_daily_digest&bxid=5d34c8f2bf008151a625259f&cndid=57921732&hasha=b9c5b1fbd6e47b2d5b4c4457b78f5db3&hashb=e139b517772042c244ceb551cbc3b66c5800016a&hashc=377c58d86526e4118aa22df1a2a5d88d9b1a75cb52cea7f720151f92b10bccf1&esrc=Auto_Subs&mbid=CRMNYR012019
Thanks, Nick, I have more coming.
And thanks for pointing me to that article. Here's me commenting critically about EB-5 in 2012 for a Vermont publication:
https://m.sevendaysvt.com/news/seeing-green-2183949
“There’s almost no one looking out for the public interest, to ensure that not only the letter but the spirit of the law is being met in terms of creating jobs.”
***
I'll note this quote in the New Yorker, "On balance, it’s a good program,” Stephen Yale-Loehr, a law professor at Cornell, said."
He's *also* been a well-compensated private attorney for EB-5 projects. https://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2010/12/conflict-of-interest-law-firm-works-for.html
I think the conclusion in the New Yorker is sound, as I've written similarly: "The whole program, it turned out, lent itself to dishonesty. Faraway investors were desperate to get to the U.S., and didn’t keep close track of where their money was going. The lawyers and brokers got large transaction fees and had little incentive to point out potential wrongdoing."
So while Atlantic Yards EB-5 "projects" may not be fraudulent in the way the Vermont project was, there's ample evidence of misleading marketing, etc.