Chinese Investment in exchange of EB-5 Visas

Kushner Companies said Monday that the name drop at the event in Beijing on Saturday was not meant to be an "attempt to lure investors" to one of its projects in New Jersey. As the Post noted, she encouraged investors to apply for United States residency through the EB-5 visa program-a controversial initiative that was renewed the day before in federal spending legislation signed into law by President Trump.

According to the Times, during the Beijing meeting, Meyer talked about how family values had shaped Kushner Companies and spoke about her grandparents, who survived the Holocaust.

On Sunday, a Kushner Companies representative sent an email to the Washington Post that said Meyer "apologizes if that mention of her brother was in any way interpreted as an attempt to lure investors".

The apology stops short of admitting that the company was leveraging Kushner's role in the White House and his relationship to the president, his father-in-law. It is also to be noted that in 2014, almost 90% of the EB-5 visas were issued to Chinese nationals.

The program has always been criticized by lawmakers as a path that in essence sells U.S. citizenships to wealthy foreigners.

There was no visible mention of Jared Kushner's link to Trump at the Beijing event, but promotional posters bore the slogan, "Government supports it; Celebrity property developer builds it".

The company also featured a photo of President Trump on a slide at the event that said "key decision makers" on the EB-5 programme, CNN reported. A Kushner Companies spokesperson said the statement was to make clear that Kushner was not involved in the company, rather than as a ploy to raise money.

"What you actually would need to know in terms of a concern about impartiality and to whom he may owe some kind of loyalty or gratitude, is not just the name of the organization, but also the identity of companies and individuals who have also invested in that organization and made the real estate project possible", Clark said.

Now led by Kushner's relatives, the Kushner Companies had earlier been negotiating with China's Anbang Insurance Group to provide what could be hundreds of millions of dollars in equity for redevelopment of a Manhattan office building.

Investors are receptive to such pitches because they believe "you're getting a chance ... to basically do business with the government or the family of people high up in the government".

And even if the slide caught Kushner Meyer by surprise, Noble said the incident demonstrates why such connections can be risky.

President Trump has made visa reform a central piece of its promised changes to immigration policy.

The White House has indicated some willingness to follow through on the Obama-era proposals, which some in the real estate industry say are too drastic and could bring investments in the program to a trickle.

Those apartments were also developed by Kushner Companies, and about a quarter of the funding - around US$50 million - was obtained via EB-5 investment, according to a report past year by Bloomberg News.

Ethics laws prohibit government officials from profiting personally from their public sector work, it said.
And Kushner's attorney said he has divested his interests in the project and will recuse himself from matters concerning EB-5.

http://clicklancashire.com/2017/05/21/chinese-investment-in-exchange-of-eb-5-visas.html

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