Congress created the EB-5 visa program in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors. The EB-5 program makes immigrant visas available to foreign nationals who either invest, or who are actively in the process of investing at least $1,000,000 in a new commercial enterprise (“NCE”). In addition to investing at least $1,000,000 in an NCE, the investment is required to create or preserve at least ten permanent full-time jobs for qualified U.S. workers.
One of the lawsuits filed against the Wellingtons involves the EB-5 visa program, specifically, the exploitation of this program for personal gain by the Wellingtons in $5 million dollars.
According to court records, there is a complaint filed with the US Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”) which alleges that Donald Wellington, Kerry Wellington, Brad Wellington and Michael Yanko misappropriated funds from various lenders, including EB-5 related funds. Additionally, the complaint and court records alleges that the Wellingtons violated their fiduciary duties related to the use of investor funds and that they committed outright fraud.
The lawsuits alleges that Donald Wellington, Brad Wellington, Kerry Wellington and her husband, Michael Yanko, received more than $100 million dollars from banks, EB-5 participants and private lenders but they never finalized the real estate projects for which they received these funds. It should be noted that Michael Yanko, who is named in this complaint, was previously convicted of larceny in the state of New York.
If you believe you have lost money as a result of investment fraud, misconduct by your investment advisor or brokerage firm, or corporate wrongdoing, present a complain on the links of SEC through the contact form on this page.