The Associated Press is out with a damaging report on the company recruited by Terry McAuliffe to help secure funding for his Greentech Automotive start up venture.
AP reporter Alicia Caldwell
has discovered that a high ranking official in the Department of
Homeland Security is under investigation for helping to facilitate
access to the EB-5 program for a Chinese Company through the group Gulf
Coast Management.
Here is part of Caldwell's report:
U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas, who has been nominated to be
the department's No. 2 leader, was named by the DHS Inspector General's Office
as a target in an ongoing investigation about the foreign investor program run
by USCIS.
According to an email
sent to lawmakers Monday evening, the IG's office initially starting
investigating the EB-5 visa program last year based on a referral from an FBI
analyst in the counter intelligence unit in Washington. The email does not
specify what criminal violations it is investigating.
The EB-5 program allows
foreign nationals to get a visa if they invest $500,000 to $1 million in a
project or business that creates jobs for U.S. citizens. The amount of the
investment required depends on the type of project. Investors who are approved
for the program can become legal permanent residents after two years and would
later be eligible to become citizens.
The White House did not
have an immediate comment on the investigation. Neither the department nor
USCIS immediately responded to inquiries.
Were Mayorkas confirmed
as the department's deputy secretary, he likely would run the department on an
interim basis until a permanent replacement has been approved to take over for
departing Secretary Janet Napolitano.
The root of the
complaint against Mayorkas is an allegation that he helped a financing company
run by Anthony Rodham, the brother of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton, win approval for an investor visa even after the application was
denied and an appeal rejected.
read the full story here.
What Caldwell's report doesn't include
is the connection of Gulf Coast Management to McAuliffe's Greentech
Automotive. According to Gulf Coast Management's web site, the only company they are currently working on securing funding for is Greentech Automotive.
McAuliffe was the connection between Anthony Rodham, the brother of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Greentech.
In the past, officials in Mississippi have blamed the lack of progress in the Greentech venture on a hold up in EB-5 funds.
Last week company spokesperson Marianne McInerney rejected any claims that
Greentech was inappropriately using the EB-5 program.
"We've met every regulation of the EB 5 program so I would say those (claims) are misguided", she said.
She also said that the EB-5 program was only one component of the company's investment plan.
"EB-5 is one part, and it's an important part, of our strategy but not the only one," she said.
McAuliffe resigned his position with Greentech in late 2012. We will have much more on Greentech tomorrow on NBC12.
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