A Los Angeles-based immigration lawyer, his wife and law firm partner were charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with running a fraudulent scheme targeted at foreign investors looking to come to the U.S., the agency announced on Wednesday.
Justin Lee, Rebecca Lee and Thomas Kent allegedly collected $11.5 million from 24 investors, mainly of Chinese and Korean descent, who were looking to obtain U.S. residency through the country’s EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program by putting their money into an American project meant to create jobs for the county’s workers, the SEC said. While the three said they would use the money to invest in an ethanol production plant in Ulysses, Kansas, the funds were misappropriated and the plant was never built, nor were jobs created, according to the SEC.
