Very first investor in EB-5 development work at Jay Peak is reacting to the News

On call:

Anthony Korda “It’s gonna massive shock, I mean I’m actually dumbfounded by the allegation. It’s just, you know, beyond comprehension at the moment. I, am going through the SEC complaint. Obviously am very concerned other investors in that and later projects, it just looks pretty awful. I mean I feel deeply very sorry myself and anybody else is gonna be somehow affected by this.

Keith McGilvery: How did you get involved in first place?

Anthony Korda: It probably could my English accent, I was one of the first investors in JP place one.

Keith McGilvery: Alrighty and how much money did you put into the project?

Anthony Korda: Half a million dollars.

Keith McGilvery: Did you have any reservations at the get go?

Anthony Korda: No this was early days of the EB-5 program. I went to Jay Peak to meet with Bill Stenger. You know he struck me at the time of very genuine and trustworthy person. And indeed you know until today I have no reason to suspect otherwise. I had dealings obviously with Jay Peak. When I came to this country, I focused my practise on EB-5 immigration and I had a number of clients go for the process, they’ve all been successful when it comes to training their conditional residence. They’ve been successful in so far as the earlier projects are concerned in having their conditions removed. And you know while there was I think a problem with phase – 1 last year when the partnership was dissolved in a way that, everybody agrees wasnt a right way to do it, without informing the investors. Apart from that it’s really been absolutely no hint of any kind of doing wrong part on a Jay Peak or anybody there.

Keith McGilvery: So I know watched the press conference today allegations of hundreds of millions of dollars in a let fraud you watched it. What was your gut reaction?

Anthony Korda: Shocked. Absolutely shocked. I mean these are allegations obviously they say are yet to be proved. But I mean if there is any truth to these allegations, absolutely it’s a shock to me. And I mean it’s a great concern for people I know who are still in the system who are waiting for their conditions to be removed people who are here on conditional green card on who in the future have to have their conditions to be removed. I mean it’s going to be a massive problem for those people. I’ve read some of the complaint in clearly in relation at least two of the phase is possibly three. They are going to be very-very difficult term question. So when it comes to try to have those people removed conditions on residence so they become permanent residence. So there are only two aspects this one is loss of money, which you know someone mentioned during the press conference that these are at-risk investments, expect there was the possibility of losing money you don’t expect your money is going to be used to buy apartment in New York or pay someone’s taxes or whatever else was supposed to be done by way misappropriation and false allegation of truth and I am absolutely dumbfounded.

Keith McGilvery: So Summer saying this looked like a ponzi scheme from the get go not necessarily not just something that kind of fell apart as things went along. Does that make it more egregious?

Anthony Korda: I think it does, you know you recognize don’t you that in certain circumstances in business, people you know they fall into financial difficulties and they start robing   piece of the paper hopefully to help everyone

You know so sometime this acts are done with best of intention I mean if this is been going on from get go not certainly can’t be said to be true and again I mean since I been involved with Jay Peak probably since 2006 you know I one of had no direct involvement with the way its managed or anything I have seen it grow from the resort it used to be prior to EB-5 to what is there now.  The Infrastructure certainly has been created and money has been definitely been spent on doing what the business plans in the various phases certainly would do. But yes this is been going on since the beginning then obviously I think that make it more egregious.

Keith McGilvery: No one that these are the allegation and just that at this point if they do turn out to in fact be true should these men go to prison?

Anthony Korda: That’s a difficult question for me to answer. You know as I said I am looking at the moment as a civil case and I think clearly the US attorney on behalf of SEC I am sure the state attorney on behalf of the mum would make those decisions not really for me to comment I think my immediate concern is firstly to safe guard the immigration position of anyone affected by this and hopefully the SEC would try to recruit some other money that been lost in the way allegation state it has been. I believe in EB-5 programme this is clearly a blow for the EB-5 prog no question.  But I do hope with all of the bad publicity that in general that it’s not the investor who are going to be paying price for this. They clearly are innocent they have not done anything wrong many of them now stand to lose possibly their money and also their immigration status I hope ultimately that someone bears in mind that without this investors this project would not be built and someone turns their mind to how to insure that this people interest is safeguarded.

Keith McGilvery :The federal and state civil cases name Ariel Quiros as one of the alleged schemers in the Kingdom Con. He lives in Florida, and is not to be confused with his son, AryQuiros, who is president and CEO of Q Burke. 

Transcript of News - http://www.wcax.com/story/31729340/jay-peaks-1st-eb-5-investor-reacts-to-fraud-allegations

Mentions

• Vermont EB5 Regional Center
• Anthony Korda
• Jay Peak - AnC Bio Vermont

Litigation Cases

• State of Vermont vs Bill Stenger & Ariel Quiros
• UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION vs Ariel Quiros & Bill Stenger

States

• Vermont