US Developer With Trump Connection Courting Chinese Investors

Revelations that the sister of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser, promoted a program offering a path to USA citizenship to Chinese backers in a Kushner family project bring new scrutiny to a foreign investor visa program.

Before being asked to leave, reporters heard Jared Kushner's sister Nicole Meyer tell Chinese investors that they could participate in a New Jersey real estate project that "means a lot to me and my entire family". Its advertising highlights the controversial EB-5 visa program, which provides a path to a green card to foreign nationals who invest at least half a million dollars and create 10 full-time jobs.

"Kushner Companies 'apologizes if that mention of [Meyer's] brother was in any way interpreted as an attempt to lure investors, ' it said in a statement emailed to NPR, adding that it was not her intention". While Kushner, the husband of Ivanka Trump, has stepped down from managing the firm, he remains the beneficiary of trusts that hold some business interests, and so he still holds a financial stake in the company's success.

A poster for the Kushner Cos. event in Shanghai on Sunday.

It began a quarter-century ago as a well-intentioned plan to attract global capital to the United States by awarding permanent residency to 10,000 foreigners per year who agreed to invest at least $500,000 into a USA business, creating at least 10 jobs directly or indirectly.

WAN: Yeah, the EB-5 program.

One speaker at Saturday's event urged would-be investors to "invest early, and you will invest under the old rules", in case US lawmakers change regulations with the visas.

"Kushner Companies had nothing to do with it", the company said. "As previously stated, he will recuse from particular matters concerning the EB-5 visa program", Roberts said.

Though Kushner Meyer didn't directly connect the event to either her brother or the Trump administration while Rauhala was in the room, the Washington Post journalist told Cooper the message was clear.

Meyer never mentioned the president's name during the investor event, but Trump's photo was seen in a slide at the conference that detailed the "key decision makers" on the EB-5 program, CNN reports.

"Chinese people are pretty affluent now", said Stella Guo, a marketing director at CanAchieve Consultants, which helps Chinese clients obtain visas under the EB-5 program.

It's illegal for government employees to use their position to turn a profit elsewhere, and while Kushner has divested from parts of his family's real estate company, that doesn't seem to be stopping them from playing up the connection. Some lawmakers have called for an overhaul or abolishment of the program, but it was recently renewed without changes until the end of September. Under the program, created in 1990 to stimulate the USA economy, there is a good chance of eventually obtaining USA permanent residency for the visa holders and their family members. (Other countries, including Australia and New Zealand, have similar programs.) Critics contend it's also plagued by fraud and used for money laundering.

And in March of this year, Kushner Companies ended a partnership with Chinese company Anbang Insurance Group that would have allowed investment in their Manhattan headquarters.

http://clicklancashire.com/2017/05/22/us-developer-with-trump-connection-courting-chinese.html

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