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

    SEC的调查开始于该机构网站收到的一条线索，该线索创下了创纪录的1470万美元的奖金奖励。

    塞思的律师们提供了一份书面声明称，塞思为这个会议中心项目“工作了近10年”，他的家庭“向此项目投资了数百万美元”。律师们指出：“起诉书忽视了一项关键事实，即从一开始，塞思就确保海外投资者的所有本金都安全地存放在第三方账户中，而且每位投资者都已拿回100%的投资本金。尚未退还给投资者的管理费当初在支付时，双方就都清楚是用于支付与此项投资相关的费用。2014年3月塞思与SEC和解时就承诺将偿还所有这些服务费，并一直正在做出巨大努力来实现这一目标。”声明称：“各项证据将显示这个项目是真实的。而且，塞思先生除了在判断上出现严重错误，他聘请的所谓‘EB-5专家’和顾问也所请非人”，“有人利用这个项目获取一己私利，对塞思先生和投资者造成伤害。不幸的是，周三的起诉书过度简化了整个事件。塞思先生希望有机会讲述全部事实。”（财富中文网）

    译者：早稻米

    The SEC investigation began with a tip filed through the agency’s website that generated a record $14.7-million whistleblower award.

    Sethi’s lawyers provided a written statement noting that their client “worked nearly ten years” on the convention center project and that his family invested “millions of dollars in it.” The lawyers state that “the indictment ignores the key fact that, from the beginning, Mr. Sethi ensured that every penny of the wealthy foreign investors’ principal was always safely secured in an escrow account, and that each investor already has received 100% of their principal investment back. What remains to be returned to investors are the administrative fees that were paid with the understanding that they would be used to pay expenses associated with the investment. In his resolution of the SEC action in March 2014, Mr. Sethi already committed to repaying all those fees and is making substantial strides to accomplish that goal.” The statement asserts “the evidence will show that this project was real and that, while Mr. Sethi made serious mistakes in judgment, he was grossly ill-served by certain of the so-called ‘EB-5 experts’ and advisors that he engaged” and that “there were individuals who used the project to pursue their own private interests to the detriment of Mr. Sethi and the investors. Unfortunately, today’s indictment has oversimplified the story of what transpired. Mr. Sethi now looks forward to his opportunity to present the complete picture.”