Read the full story: Watchdog.org
A government accountability group says “unanswered questions” warrant a criminal investigation into actions by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and others involved in the EB-5 visa program.
Cause of Action called for the investigation after the federal Office of Inspector General confirmed this week that McAuliffe repeatedly lobbied the director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for visa approvals.
Read the full story: Breitbart
“Cause of Action, a nonprofit, government oversight group, is calling on the Department of Justice to “immediately investigate” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Governor Terry McAuliffe (D-VA), and Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas “for their participation in unlawful political activity, possible coercion and fraud related to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.”
Cause of Action Executive Director Dan Epstein will provide details in a media conference Thursday about a letter the group sent “calling on the Acting Chief Public Integrity Officer at the Department of Justice to investigate Department of Homeland Security Deputy Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas, Sen. Harry Reid, Gov. Terry McAuliffe and potentially others,” according to a statement released by the group. “The letter . . . comes on the heels of a report from the DHS Inspector General which revealed potential fraud in a well known visa-for-cash program administered by DHS. The IG’s investigation found that Mr. Mayorkas “exerted improper influence in the normal processing and adjudication of EB-5 immigration program benefits,” the statement read.”
Read the full story: Washington Examiner
The conservative watchdog group Cause of Action said that it has had to refile the complaint that alleges Reid pressured the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to hasten EB-5 visa application reviews for overseas investors in the SLS Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
The group said that Reid’s son Rory and his law firm, Lionel, Sawyer & Collins P.C., were the lawyers for SLS, raising potential conflicts.
According to a letter provided to Secrets, the group sent the original complaint on Oct. 16, 2013. It said that the Senate Ethics Committee received it Dec. 20, and it provided the receipt to prove it.
Read the full story: Fox News
Watchdog group Cause of Action is calling on a Senate Ethics panel to respond to a complaint it filed against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2013. At the center of the complaint is Reid’s alleged use of his political clout to lobby U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to reconsider and approve EB-5 immigrant investor visa petitions where a company receiving the foreign funding was a major contributor to the Democratic Party, and, at the time, was represented by the Senator’s son.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
October 21, 2014 Mary Beth Hutchins, 202-400-2721
Cause of Action Calls on Senate Ethics Committee to Answer for Failure to Respond to Ethics Complaint Against Sen. Harry Reid
WASHINGTON – Cause of Action (CoA), a nonprofit government oversight group, today wrote to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics in follow up to a December 2013 ethics complaint CoA filed against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that has received no response from the Committee. CoA’s complaint highlighted Senator Reid’s use of his political clout to lobby U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to reconsider and approve EB-5 immigrant investor visa petitions where the principal entity receiving the foreign funding is a major contributor to the Democratic Party, and, at the time, was represented by the Senator’s son.
CoA’s letter highlights the need for the Committee to provide an explanation for why its 2013 complaint did not lead to a preliminary inquiry, despite CoA providing sufficient evidence.
CoA Executive Director Dan Epstein:
We rely on Congress to conduct oversight of bad government behavior, including investigating its own members to ensure that America’s elected officials are behaving ethically. For over 300 days to pass since our complaint was received with no reasoned notice of the Committee’s determination is unacceptable. The Committee appears to have dismissed Cause of Action’s complaint without engaging in a preliminary inquiry and without explanation, where independent evidence unearthed by the media supports the allegations of misconduct. The American public, who elected their Senators, deserve an ethics committee that takes its role seriously, and our hope is that the public receives an explanation for this delay in oversight.
On October 23, 2014, CoA sent a follow up letter after Senate Ethics claimed it did not receive the ethics complaint in 2013.
About Cause of Action:
Cause of Action is a non-profit, nonpartisan government accountability organization that fights to protect economic opportunity when federal regulations, spending and cronyism threaten it. For more information, visit www.causeofaction.org.
To schedule an interview with Cause of Action’s Executive Director Dan Epstein, contact Mary Beth Hutchins, mary.beth.hutchins@causeofaction.org
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Cause of Action, a government accountability group, sent a letter to Chairman Darrell Issa of the House Committee on Oversight and Government reform urging the committee to examine the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) oversight of the EB-5 visa Pilot Program. Cause of Action issued the following statement in response to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee pending nomination for Alejandro Mayorkas for Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) :
Executive Director Dan Epstein:
“Just this week, Cause of Action sent a letter to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform urging the Committee to examine the USCIS’ administration of the EB-5 visa Pilot Program, which is under the oversight of Alejandro Mayorkas. Whistleblowers revealed that Mayorkas fast-tracked visa applications through the EB-5 program, which is being used to finance crony companies while failing to deliver on job creation. In light of these concerns and the current DHS OIG investigation of Mayorkas, it was irresponsible for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to vote on Mayorkas’ nomination for Deputy Secretary of the DHS before DHS’s internal investigation is complete.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Jamie Morris, 202-499-2425
Report: Forest City Enterprises Profits Despite Legal Violations
Cause of Action calls on Congress to investigate Forest City Enterprises and lax oversight at USCIS, DOJ
WASHINGTON –Cause of Action (CoA), a government accountability organization, today released “Unfair Enrichment: How Forest City Enterprises Acts Above the Law,” the third and final installment of the three-part investigation, “Political Profiteering: How Forest City Enterprises Makes Private Profits at the Expense of America’s Taxpayers,” exposing how New York State manipulated census data to benefit Forest City Enterprises’ (FCE) New York subsidiary Forest City Ratner (FCR) and the New York City Regional Center (NYCRC). With this data, FCR and the NYCRC enticed foreign investors into a cash-for-visas program, all while downplaying the risk of investment and exaggerating job creation predictions. Further, the Department of Justice (DOJ) failed to prosecute FCR executives who bribed city council members to approve another FCR development in project in Yonkers, N.Y.
CoA’s nearly two-year investigation found that executives of FCR played illicit roles in the 2005-2006 bribery scandal that resulted in the federal conviction of two local politicians in Yonkers, N.Y. for securing approval for FCR’s Ridge Hill development project. The DOJ failed to prosecute, despite being alerted by a 2010 letter from Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee Lamar Smith (R-TX) that raised concerns that “political favoritism” guided the DOJ’s decision “not to pursue legal charges against Forest City Ratner and its employees.”
Dan Epstein, Cause of Action’s executive director commented:
“Our investigation uncovered that not only did FCR violate the law and engage in political profiteering, but the DOJ turned a blind eye to FCR’s criminal activity while the USCIS failed to hold New York State accountable. We can’t rely on these federal agencies to properly apply their own rules and protect the interests of taxpayers, which is why Congress should intervene and investigate these practices.”
Findings from the report include:
In light of these findings, CoA wrote to Chairman Issa of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee urging the committee to examine USCUS’ treatment of states’ TEA designations and determine whether undue political influence affected DOJ’s decision not to prosecute FCE.
To access our letter, click here.
To access Unfair Enrichment: How Forest City Enterprises Acts Above the Law, click here.
To access parts one and two of the investigation, click here.
About Cause of Action:
Cause of Action is a non-profit, nonpartisan government accountability organization that fights to protect economic opportunity when federal regulations, spending and cronyism threaten it. For more information, visit www.causeofaction.org.
To schedule an interview with Cause of Action’s Executive Director Dan Epstein, contact Mary Beth Hutchins, 202-400-2721 or Jamie Morris, jamie.morris@causeofaction.org.
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