Michael Goldberg, Akerman. Photo: Melanie Bell

The Fort Lauderdale attorney overseeing two Vermont ski resorts after their owner was accused of massive fraud said he hopes to sell the Jay Peak Resort by next summer,  but investors may incur a significant loss, according to a court filing.

Court-appointed receiver Michael Goldberg, chair of Akerman's fraud and recovery practice, filed an interim report Wednesday in federal court in Florida, stating he and an investment bank have been marketing Jay Peak for seven months.

About a dozen potential buyers have expressed interest, Goldberg wrote. He is not sure how much the resort will sell for but is "fairly certain" that the investors "will incur a significant loss of their principal investment." VTDigger first reported on the court filing.

The losses were expected. Foreigners invested in developments at Jay Peak through the EB-5 visa program, which helps them obtain permanent residency by investing at least $500,000 in job-creating U.S. developments.

Former Jay Peak owner Ariel Quiros of Miami and and former company president William Stenger of Newport, Vermont, were accused in 2016 of misusing more than $200 million raised from foreign investors. They reached settlements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Vermont with no admissions of wrongdoing.

Goldberg's court filing said he will not try to sell the Burke Mountain Hotel at Burke Mountain Resort at this point "because the sales price based on current financial performance would be extremely low." Since construction, the hotel has not generated enough jobs to qualify all of the investors for green cards.

Quiros, Stenger, Quiros adviser William Kelly and South Korean businessman Jong Weon Choi face federal fraud charges over a failed plan to build a biotechnology center in Newport using foreign investors' money.

The AnC Bio Vermont project was supposed to raise $118 million to create a biotech facility and business in a town of just over 4,000 on the Canadian border in an economically challenged region of Vermont known as the Northeast Kingdom.

From 2012 to 2016, the indictment said about 169 investors kicked in about $93 million. The money allegedly was put it in a Florida-based corporation that was used for other needs, such as loan payments. The defendants concealed they "lacked the money to construct and begin operations."

Quiros, Stenger and Kelly pleaded not guilty in May to engaging in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud, participating in that conspiracy, wire fraud and concealing facts about job projections and the ability to generate revenue with the investors' funds. Quiros also pleaded not guilty to money laundering. There was no response by deadline from Choi's attorney.

Lisa Rathke reports for the Associated Press.