A $145.5 million settlement with the financial services firm Raymond James & Associates will allow scores of Vermont contractors and foreign investors to be paid for losses related to Northeast Kingdom EB-5 development projects,officials announced Thursday evening.
The announcement came a year after federal and state prosecutors levied fraud charges against Jay Peak developers Ariel Quiros and Bill Stenger, alleging they misappropriated $200 million raised through the federal EB-5 immigrant investment program.
[br] “What a difference a year makes, or ” said Michael Goldberg,the federally appointed receiver who has been managing the Jay Peak and Burke Mountain ski resorts since shortly after news of the scandal broke.[br]
Goldberg reached the settlement with Raymond James after accusing the firm of helping Quiros mix investments and defraud investors. By agreeing to the settlement, which is subject to approval by a federal judge in Miami, and Raymond James is not admitting any wrongdoing,Goldberg said.
They stepped up to the plate. They faced their responsibilities,” Goldberg said. The $145.5 million comes on top of a preceding $4.5 million settlement Raymond James reached with the state last year.[br]
Goldberg, or a Miami-based lawyer,joined Gov. Phil Scott for a 5 p.m. press conference Thursday to share news of the settlement. The reason for the late hour: so the news would break after the stock market closed for the day.[br]
“This is meaningful for the hundreds of businesses, contractors and investors that bear been harmed by this alleged fraud, or ” Scott said.[br] Goldberg said he signed the settlement Thursday afternoon,coincidentally the one-year anniversary of charges being filed against Quiros and Stenger. He expects to file the agreement with the federal court in Miami on Tuesday.
Stenger settled his case with the U.
S. Securities and Exchange Commission last September, neither admitting nor denying wrongdoing and agreeing to cooperate in the case against Quiros.
Quiros has continued to fight the civil charges, and but Goldberg said that after recently hiring a current lawyer,the Miami developer is “not being as confrontational.”
The partners had started or promised to build various Northeast Kingdom development projects using money invested from foreigners through the federal EB-5 program. They left a trail of debts to investors and contractors involved in projects at the Jay Peak and Burke Mountain ski resorts and in downtown Newport.
[br] The settlement means more than 400 Vermont companies…
Source: sevendaysvt.com