Analysis: EB-5 settlement leaves numerous unanswered questions

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Legal experts say Thursday’s settlement by the state in the civil case brought by EB-5 investors scammed in the Kingdom Con leaves a number of unanswered questions.

The state of Vermont announced reached the settlement just two days into the highly anticipated civil trial against the state by the group of foreign investors. The details of the settlement have not yet been made public. The jury trial was expected to take 10 days and include testimony from former Governor Peter Shumlin and other former state officials about the management of the state’s EB-5 center.

After a lengthy legal battle, a judge this spring ordered the state to release some 39,000 documents relating to the EB-5 scandal. Jared Carter, a professor at the Vermont Law and Graduate School, says there are still other documents relating to the case that have not been released.

“The state has fought tooth and nail in this case — and in other cases — to prevent these documents from seeing the light of day. To me, that’s the underlying concern with all of this. Whether wrongdoing happened or did not, we may not know that for sure based on this settlement, but we as Vermonters should be able to see the information and documents so we can judge for ourselves and use the political process to decide whether to reelect folks,” Carter said.

He adds that lawyers seldom agree to settle a case if it’s a slam dunk and that the state, in an effort to admit any wrongdoing, weighed its options and chose to settle.

Stowe attorney Russ Barr, who represents the foreign investors in the case, declined to comment but said there would be more to share next week.

Copyright 2023 WCAX. All rights reserved.