Queens developer Richard Xia is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly defrauding EB-5 investors in a Queens development project. The case now includes three Long Island mansions he allegedly purchased with their money, according to documents filed earlier this month in federal court in the Eastern District of New York.
To raise the cash to purchase the properties, Xia used investor assets as collateral to secure three loans totaling nearly $30 million, the SEC claims in court papers. The investors, as part of the federal EB-5 program, invest in job-producing U.S. real estate projects in exchange for a green card.
In September the SEC
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