The state of Vermont did not provide adequate oversight to prevent the massive fraud that occurred in ski area and other development projects funded by foreign investors' money through a special visa program, a state audit has found.
The financial scandal first revealed in 2016, which became the state's largest fraud case, shook Vermont and the economically depressed region called the Northeast Kingdom.
In 2018, Vermont's former attorney general asked for an audit of the state's involvement in the projects at Jay Peak and Burke resorts to address the loss of trust in state government from the fraud, State Auditor Doug Hoffer wrote in the report released on Thursday. The audit was completed after the legal proceedings concluded, he wrote.
The findings should not be entirely surprising, Hoffer wrote.
“In short, we found a pattern of misplaced trust, unfortunate decision-making, lengthy delays, and missed opportunities to prevent or minimize fraud,” Hoffer wrote.
Ariel Quiros, a Miami businessman and former owner of two Vermont ski resorts, was sentenced in 2022 to five years in prison for his role in a failed plan to build a biotechnology plant in Newport using tens of millions of dollars raised through the EB-5 visa program. Under the program, foreigners invest $500,000 in U.S. a project that creates at least 10 jobs in exchange for a chance to earn permanent U.S. residency. William Stenger, the former president of Jay Peak, and William Kelly, an advisor to Quiros, each got sentences of 18 months.
But the fraud encompassed seven other projects at Jay Peak and Burke resorts.
In 2016, the federal Securities and Exchange Commission and the state of Vermont alleged that Quiros and Stenger took part in a “massive eight-year fraudulent scheme.” The civil allegations involved misusing more than $200 million of about $400 million raised from foreign investors for various ski area developments through the EB-5 visa program “in Ponzi-like fashion.”
In a Ponzi scheme, money provided by new investors is used to pay high returns to early-stage investors to suggest the enterprise is prosperous. The scheme collapses when required redemptions exceed new investments.
Quiros and Stenger settled civil charges with the SEC, with Quiros surrendering more than $80 million in assets, including the two resorts. In the seven projects at Jay Peak and Burke, “construction was done but not always to the specifications or at the costs told to the investors. Significant funds were simply misused,” the report said.
Under the EB-5 program, the federal government designates regional centers to promote economic growth and oversee and monitor sponsored projects, the report states. Most regional centers are privately owned but the Vermont Regional Center was state government-run.
The center, which was the EB-5 office within the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, had competing duties: to market and promote EB-5 projects and to regulate them, the auditor's report states.
"Experts and policymakers have long warned against such arrangements for fear that an agency relied upon to help a project succeed may be reluctant to exercise its regulatory powers. In addition, a marketing office may not have the skill sets needed to properly regulate complex financial arrangements such as EB-5. Unfortunately, this proved all too true at ACCD,” the report states.
Last July, the state of Vermont agreed to pay $16.5 million to settle all pending and potential lawsuits from foreign investors in the development projects.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is still determining the immigration status of the Jay Peak and Burke investors, Goldstein wrote. At least 424 of 564 Jay Peak investors have already received green cards and the state is working to increase the chances that many more do, she wrote.
FILE - The water park at Jay Peak resort in Jay, Vt., April 18, 2016. A state audit has concluded Thursday, March 28, 2024, that Vermont did not provide adequate oversight to prevent the massive fraud that occurred in ski area and other development projects funded by foreign investors' money through a special visa program. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke, File)
President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Trump’s pick of conservative loyalist Matt Gaetz to serve as attorney general has Democrats sounding the alarm with Sen. Dick Durbin saying Gaetz “would be a disaster” in part because of Trump’s threat to use the Justice Department “to seek revenge on his political enemies.”
Republicans have won enough seats to control the U.S. House, completing the party’s sweep into power and securing their hold on U.S. government alongside President-elect Donald Trump.
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Argentine President Javier Milei has met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, becoming the first foreign leader to meet with the president-elect since his election victory last week.
After meeting with Trump, Milei -- a self-described “anarcho-capitalist” and frequent recipient of Trump praise — addressed the America First Policy Institute gala being held at the club.
Milei slammed left-wing ideologies and saluted Elon Musk, the owner of X, saying his social media site is helping to “save humanity.”
Sylvester Stallone says of Trump, “Nobody in the world could have pulled off what he pulled off. So I’m in aw.”
The actor addressed a gala at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and evoked filming “Rocky.” He added of that iconic character, “This man was going to go through a metamorphosis and change lives, just like President Trump.”
Stallone also called Trump “the second George Washington.”
Trump is set to address the America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago resort in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The event featured a live band, white tablecloths, gold chairs and wedge salad. Guests got copies of Trump’s “Save America” book on their chairs.
In attendance is actor Sylvester Stallone, as well as the president-elect’s newly announced choice for secretary of Health and Human Services secretary in his upcoming administration, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Other guests include former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk, who have been named co-heads of a department of government efficiency that Trump has promised to create upon taking office.
Trump’s incoming “border czar” says cracking down on the U.S.-Mexico border is “President Trump’s No. 1 issue” because it is the country’s “biggest national security vulnerability” since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
Tom Homan, who was also a former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Trump’s first administration, said stricter enforcement would begin immediately.
“Day 1, we’re going to be out on the street,” Homan said in an interview with Newsmax+. “We’re already putting the plan together. We’re not waiting for the president to take office to put the plan together. We’re working on the plan right now.”
Homan said he’d be heading soon to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida to continue working out the details.
Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Trump’s first administration who has been named as “border czar,” in his second, is suggesting that the first priorities for deportation will be people with criminal records.
Trump promised throughout his successful reelection campaign to undertake mass deportations of people in the country illegally.
In an interview with NewsNation’s “Cuomo,” Homan was asked about Trump’s top border priorities and said, “There’s going to be a prioritization of criminals, national security threats first.”
“All the hate coming right now to the president and myself, all we want to do is enforce a law,” Homan said. “And we’re in a place now in this nation where if you want to enforce law, you’re a bad guy.”
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum won’t say if he might be in consideration for a role in the new administration as Interior Secretary, energy czar or possibly something else. “There’s been a lot of discussions about a lot of different things,” Burgum told reporters at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. “Nothing’s true until you read it on Truth Social.”
That’s a reference to the president-elect’s social media site.
Burgum also praised Kennedy as Trump’s choice for Health and Human Services Secretary, pointing to Kennedy’s advocacy around addiction and overdose deaths. Burgum’s wife has been active around similar issues.
Asked about Trump’s pick of former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general, Burgum said Trump “is making very smart picks across the board. He’s got his reasons for doing all of these things.”
The satirical news publication The Onion was named the winning bidder for Alex Jones’ Infowars at a bankruptcy auction Thursday, backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax.
The purchase would turn over Jones’ company, which for decades has peddled in conspiracy and misinformation, to a humor website that plans to relaunch the Infowars platform in January as a parody. But the judge in Jones’ bankruptcy case said Thursday that he had concerns about how the auction was conducted and ordered a hearing for next week after complaints by lawyers for Jones and a company affiliated with Jones that put in a $3.5 million bid.
Within hours of the announcement about The Onion’s winning bid, Infowars’ website was down and Jones was broadcasting from what he said was a new studio location. Up for sale were Infowars’ website; social media accounts; studio in Austin, Texas; trademarks; video archive; and other assets.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that there will be “plenty of scrutiny” of the records of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees once it is time to confirm them, but the Senate needs a chance to do its job.
Leaving the Capitol a day after he was elected as Senate Republicans’ next leader, Thune would not comment on Trump’s announcement that he intends to nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department or any other potential nominee. “I’m not going to make any judgements about any of these folks at this point,” he said.
“Honestly, the entire nomination process is just getting started,” Thune said. “So let’s give it a chance to see what happens. These names, none of them have been formally submitted yet. So there’s going to be a vetting process, and I think we will do our job under advice and consent and make sure that the process is fair.”
Current Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also did not comment on Kennedy’s nomination. There will be “a time for that,” he told reporters.
But Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the No. 3 Democrat, said that Kennedy’s confirmation would be “nothing short of a disaster for the health of millions of families.”
Trump would have Kennedy lead a massive Cabinet agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid. He said before the election he would give Kennedy free rein over health policy.
Here’s a look at Kennedy and the agency he’ll be tasked with leading:
Read more about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy stuck a deal with Trump to give the now president-elect his endorsement in exchange for a role in health policy in the administration. Here are some of his positions on the subject:
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr to serve as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, according to two people familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity.
HHS is a massive Cabinet agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid.
Kennedy, a former Democrat who ran as an independent in this year’s presidential race, abandoned his bid after striking a deal to give Trump his endorsement with a promise to have a role in health policy in the administration.
He and Trump have since become good friends, with Kennedy frequently receiving loud applause at Trump’s rallies.
— Jill Colvin
Though it’s not clear if Dimon was interested in a role. The announcement came as Trump has not yet named a Treasury Secretary for his incoming administration or others to fill economic and banking related roles.
Dimon had no plans to join Trump’s administration, according to news reports in recent weeks.
Trump, in a post on his social media network Truth Social on Thursday, said he respects Dimon “greatly” but “he will not be invited to be a part of the Trump Administration.”
“I thank Jamie for his outstanding service to our Country!” Trump added.
In a July interview with Bloomberg, Trump said Dimon was someone he was considering for Treasury Secretary. A few weeks later, he reversed himself, saying in a post on Truth Social that he didn’t know “who said it, or where it came from, perhaps the Radical Left, but I never discussed, or thought of, Jamie Dimon” for Treasury Secretary.
Republicans went to court in Pennsylvania on Thursday amid vote counting in the U.S. Senate election between Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican David McCormick, as the campaigns prepare for a recount and press counties for favorable ballot-counting decisions.
The lawsuits ask courts not to allow counties to count mail-in ballots where the voter didn’t write a date on the return envelope or wrote an incorrect date. The two GOP suits could be among many before the last vote in the Senate race is counted, especially with the contest headed toward a state-mandated recount.
The Associated Press called the race for McCormick last week, concluding that not enough ballots remained to be counted in areas Casey was winning for him to take the lead.
After losing the White House and both houses of Congress, Democrats are grappling with how to handle transgender politics and policy following a campaign that featured withering and often misleading GOP attacks on the issue.
There's plenty of second-guessing after President-elect Donald Trump anchored his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris with sweeping promises on the economy and immigration. But Democrats also won't soon forget the punchline in anti-transgender Trump ads that became ubiquitous by Election Day: “Kamala is for they/them; President Trump is for you.”
“Week by week when that ad hit and stuck and we didn’t respond, I think that was the beginning of the end,” former Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said of the 30-second spot that was part of $215 million in anti-transgender advertising by Trump and Republicans, according to tracking firm AdImpact.
Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul said Thursday that he'll lead the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where he intends to immediately take up President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to reinstate a policy requiring asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court.
Paul said he'll be the committee’s new chair after Republicans won control of the Senate in this month’s elections. The new role will put Paul — a limited-government advocate and longtime skeptic of surveillance programs — in charge of a committee with broad jurisdiction over government operations, including the Department of Homeland Security. Paul has been the committee’s ranking Republican during Democratic control of the Senate.
Democrat Janelle Bynum won election to a U.S. House seat representing Oregon on Thursday, defeating Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
The district, which includes the Portland suburbs and stretches through Bend, was a top target for Democrats. Democrats lost this seat in 2022, when Jamie McLeod-Skinner defeated seven-term Democratic Rep. Kurt Schrader in the primary but lost the general election. The district took in parts of more conservative central Oregon after 2022 redistricting.
Bynum represents Happy Valley and North Clackamas in the state Legislature. The Associated Press declared Bynum the winner at 12:47 p.m. EST.
Republican and Democratic senators alike on the Judiciary Committee that would review Matt Gaetz’s attorney general nomination are calling for a House Ethics Committee investigation into Gaetz to be made available to them.
“I think it’s going to be material in the proceedings,” said Sen. Thomas Tillis, a North Carolina Republican.
Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said, “I think there should not be any limitation on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation, including whatever the House Ethics Committee has generated.”
Sen. Dick Durbin, the Democrat who currently chairs the Judiciary Committee, earlier Thursday said in a statement, “We cannot allow this valuable information from a bipartisan investigation to be hidden from the American people.”
Thune did not mention Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard or other Trump picks that have raised deep concerns among several senators.
But he said senators should expect “an aggressive schedule until his nominees are confirmed.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is calling on the House Ethics Committee to preserve information it's gathered on former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s intended nominee for attorney general, and also share it with the Senate.
Trump announced Gaetz as his pick for the post Wednesday and Gaetz immediately resigned from Congress, ending the investigation against him. The ethics panel said several months ago that its review included whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct. Gaetz has categorically denied all the allegations before the committee.
“The sequence and timing of Mr. Gaetz’s resignation from the House raises serious questions about the contents of the House Ethics Committee report,” Durbin said Thursday. “We cannot allow this valuable information from a bipartisan investigation to be hidden from the American people.”
The Democrat looking to unseat an incumbent Republican in a close Iowa congressional race, one of a handful yet to be called after Republicans won control of the U.S. House, has asked for a recount.
Democrat Christina Bohannan’s campaign on Thursday requested the recount in her bid against Republican incumbent Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks to represent Iowa’s 1st District. The initial tally puts Bohannan fewer than 1,000 votes — less than a percentage point — behind Miller-Meeks.
The contest is a much tighter rematch of 2022, when Miller-Meeks won by 7 percentage points. Miller-Meeks earned a first term in Congress representing Iowa’s 2nd District when she defeated Democrat Rita Hart by just six votes in 2020.
FILE - The speaker's dais is seen in the House of Representatives of the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 28, 2022. In the 2024 elections, Republicans have won enough seats to control the U.S. House, completing the party's sweep into power and securing their hold on U.S. government alongside President-elect Donald Trump. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2024, at the National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Md., Feb. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at meeting of the House GOP conference, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
FILE - The chamber of the House of Representatives is seen at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 28, 2022. In the 2024 elections, Republicans have won enough seats to control the U.S. House, completing the party's sweep into power and securing their hold on U.S. government alongside President-elect Donald Trump. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
