I found the South Dakota Regional Center "Dairy Case", adds more to Northern Beef Packers issue

My previous post mentioned that there may be a tie in to South Dakota's dairy industry in regard to the EB-5 controversy. Here is more on that plus details on what is being invesigated at the Northern Beef Packers bankruptcy:

They put $2.5 million into a South Dakota dairy farm that went out of business while their funds were in escrow, and reinvested in another dairy farm marketed by the same regional center, now called SDRC Inc., according to the suit. USCIS denied their green cards, saying they should have reapplied before giving the second farm money.

USCIS has agreed to reopen their cases and they’ve put their complaint on hold, their Miami-based lawyer, Ira Kurzban, said. USCIS officials declined to comment on the suit.

Joop Bollen, president of Aberdeen, South Dakota-based SDRC, is a defendant in a civil case filed in federal court in Sioux Falls in October. It claims he provided “inaccurate and incomplete information” to Chinese citizens who put $500,000 each into the Northern Beef Packers cattle processing plant in Aberdeen in 2009 and 2010. He failed to disclose there were liens against the plant and that it was then about two years behind schedule, according to the suit.

The four original plaintiffs dropped out of the suit and were replaced with four others in November. Their lawyers declined to comment.

Bollen, who denies the allegations, filed a counter-suit against Beijing-based Henry Global Consulting Group, which SDRC hired to recruit the investors. He says in his complaint the company has “falsely advised” them about the plant and continues to try to turn them against it because of a dispute over the fees Henry Global charges. Lawyers for the defendant couldn’t be reached for comment.

So many people are trying to make money off the EB-5 program now that it’s difficult to know the difference between “really crappy projects and really good projects,” said Bollen, whose center has put EB-5 money into a wind farm, a hotel and casino and a turkey processing factory. “There are a bunch of sleazebags who will sell anything.”

Comments

[Cory Allen Heidelberger]

Sibby, I'm glad you're on the case. Keep looking. But note that David Newquist talked about this lawsuit back in February 2012. It was filed in October 2011, then dismissed (by consent of both sides, I think) in June 2012:

http://northernbeacon.blogspot.com/2012/02/trouble.html