美国男子设假投资移民项目揽财遭起诉 中国投资者被骗上亿

    一个联邦大陪审团上周三下午对安索•塞思提起刑事诉讼。这位30岁芝加哥男子的大胆计划是运用他从中国投资者手中筹集的1.60亿美元资金，建设一个巨型酒店和会议综合大楼，《财富》（Fortune）杂志最近也对他进行了调查。

    起诉书指控塞思犯有8项通信欺诈罪和2项虚假陈述罪。如果罪名被判成立，他将面临每项欺诈罪名最高20年监禁、虚假陈述罪名最高10年监禁的处罚。

    在此之前，塞思曾经与美国证券交易委员会（SEC）达成一项和解协议，其中他既没承认、也没否认有罪。EB-5签证项目可以让那些向美国企业投资至少50万美元的外国人一跃而至移民排期的最前方，塞思的募资对象正是那些希望通过EB-5签证项目获得美国永久居留权的中国投资者。

    塞思宣称要投资一个耗资9.12亿美元的“LEED绿色建筑铂金级认证”综合大楼项目，在奥黑尔机场（O’Hare Airport）附近的一块2.8英亩土地上兴建5家品牌酒店。为此，他与近300名富有的投资者签了约。但起诉书指控称，他是用荒诞的谎言与伪造文件募集到的资金，谎称这个项目已获得政府融资和许可，并从酒店连锁机构获得入驻承诺，以及本人拥有丰富的开发经验。

    事实上，正如《财富》杂志报道，塞思唯一的酒店行业经验就是将自家破旧的汽车旅馆经营到倒闭。

    SEC的民事欺诈诉讼于2013年2月提交，叫停了这场骗局，并最终追回了第三方存管的约1.47亿美元投资者资金。在去年3月份的和解中，塞思及其业务实体被罚款390万美元，他个人20年内禁入证券销售相关行业。

    除了牢狱和罚款诉求，周三的诉状（与SEC和解一样）希望再追回1100万美元管理费，即赛思向每位投资者收取的4.15万美元。这些钱本来应该只用于项目支出，塞思曾告诉投资者称，如果他们的签证未获批准，这些钱可以全部退还。

    起诉书称，塞思把这些钱“几乎都”花光了，“侵吞”了至少32万美元服务费，用于“给他、他的家人和朋友购买奢侈品”，为一项不相关的法律和解支付费用以及“为一项美容整形业务提供资金”。

    A federal grand jury this afternoon brought criminal charges against AnshooSethi, the 30-year-old Chicago man whose audacious scheme to build a giant hotel and convention complex with $160 million he raised from Chinese investors was the subject of a recent Fortune investigation.

    The indictment charges Sethi with eight counts of wire fraud and two counts of making false statements. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years on each fraud count, and ten more years on the false-statement charges.

    Sethi, who previously reached a consent agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission without acknowledging or denying culpability, raised the funds from Chinese investors seeking U.S. residency through the booming EB-5 visa program, which allows foreigners who invest at least $500,000 in American businesses to jump to the front of immigration line.

    Claiming to be building a $912-million, “Zero-Carbon Platinum LEED-certified” complex featuring five name-brand hotels on a 2.8-acre tract near O’Hare Airport, Sethi signed up nearly 300 wealthy investors. But he raised the money, the indictment charged, with a combination of outlandish lies and forged documents about the project’s government financing and permits, the commitments he had from hotel chains, and his own development experience.

    In truth, as Fortune reported, Sethi’s only experience in the lodging business was running his family’s shabby motel into the ground.

    The SEC’s civil fraud action, filed in February 2013, brought the scheme to a halt and ultimately recovered about $147 million in investor funds, which had been held in escrow. In a settlement last March, Sethi and his business entities were fined $3.9 million and he was barred from any association with the sale of securities for 20 years.

    In addition to prison time and fines, today’s indictment (as the SEC settlement did) seeks the recovery of an additional $11 million in administrative fees—$41,500 per investor—that Sethi collected. The money, which Sethi told investors was fully refundable if their visas were not approved, was supposed to be used solely for project expenses.

    According to the indictment, Sethi spent “nearly all” the money—and “misappropriated” at least $320,000 of the fees “for the purchase of luxury goods for himself, family, and friends,” to make a payment on an unrelated lawsuit settlement, and “to fund a cosmetic surgery business.”