The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced fraud charges and an asset freeze against a Vermont-based ski resort and related businesses allegedly misusing millions of dollars raised through investments solicited under the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint for Injunctive and Other Relief against Ariel Quiros, William Stenger, Jay Peak, Inc., Q Resorts, Inc., Jay Peak Hotel Suites L.P., Jay Peak Hotel Suites Phase II L.P., Jay Peak Hotel Suites Phase II L.P., Jay Peak Management, Inc., Jay Peak Penthouse Suites L.P., Jay Peak GP Services, Inc., Jay Peak Golf and Mountain Suites L.P., Jay Peak GP Services Golf, Inc., Jay Peak Lodge and Townhouses, L.P., Jay Peak GP Services Lodge, Inc., Jay Peak Hotel Suites Stateside L.P., Jay Peak GP Services Stateside, Inc., Jay Peak Biomedical Research Park L.P., and AnC Bio Vermont GP Services, LLC. The SEC’s case was unsealed in federal court in the United States District Court Southern District of Florida, and the court has appointed a receiver over the companies to prevent any further spending of investor assets.
The SEC alleges that Ariel Quiros of Miami, Florida, William Stenger of Newport, Vermont, and their companies made false statements and omitted key information while raising more than $350 million from investors to construct ski resort facilities and a biomedical research facility in Vermont. According to the SEC complaint, investors were told they were investing in one of several projects connected to Jay Peak Inc., a ski resort operated by Quiros and Stenger, and their money would only be used to finance that specific project. The SEC complaint alleges that instead, in Ponzi-like fashion, money from investors in later projects was misappropriated to fund deficits in earlier projects. The SEC complaint alleges that more than $200 million was used for other-than-stated purposes, including $50 million spent on Quiros’s personal expenses and in other ways never disclosed to investors.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Quiros improperly tapped investor funds for such things as the purchase of a luxury condominium, payment of his income taxes and other taxes unrelated to the investments, and acquisition of an unrelated ski resort. The SEC’s complaint charges Quiros, Stenger, Jay Peak, and a company owned by Quiros called Q Resorts Inc., as well as, seven limited partnerships and their general partner companies with violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5. Four other companies are named as relief defendants in the SEC’s complaint for the purpose of recovering investor funds transferred into their accounts.
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