NEWPORT — Former Jay Peak Resort president Bill Stenger has asked a federal court to dismiss a $250,000 restitution order in his EB-5 fraud case.
The $250,000 restitution order for Stenger was directed for a group of 36 investors that got swindled by making investments into the EB-5 program that provides residential immigration cards in exchange for $500,000.
According to defense lawyers, newly provided evidence shows that Vermont officials failed to act when informed about serious investment problems for a proposed biomedical facility in Newport.
The lawyers claim that Vermont authorities were alerted in early 2015 about financial concerns by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Department of Financial Regulation officials at the time, including then-Commissioner Susan Donegan and her deputy, Michael Pieciak, should never have allowed for the resumption of the marketing for the biomedical research facility planned for Newport, Vermont Biz reports that Brooks McArthur and David Williams of Gravel & Shea law firm said.
The SEC and the Food and Drug Administration had deep concerns, they wrote in their 18-page motion, which has 291 pages of attached exhibits.
The newly disclosed evidence demonstrates that SEC investigators warned Pieciak as early as Feb. 4, 2015.
Stenger was released from federal prison last month after serving nine months of an 18-month sentence for his part in the massive foreign investor fraud case.
He pleaded guilty to a felony charge of knowingly and willfully submitting a false document in January 2015 to the Vermont Regional Center.
