In the wake of post-9/11 paranoia and the seditious 47 Ronin Reaganites who want to bomb Iran, the real problems have been festering in the massive DHS bureaucracy created by the surveillance state and claims of immigration reform are more about the same old kleptocracy writ even larger.
The FBI is investigating a former top military aide to three U.S. presidents and his firm over allegations it bilked foreign investors out of millions of dollars by touting his White House ties and making promises of quick U.S. Green Cards to raise funds for a giant hotel complex, ABC News has learned. Five years after an elaborate ground-breaking ceremony in New Orleans, there is only a vacant lot and investors say almost $16 million has disappeared.
The former aide, retired Air Force Col. Timothy Milbrath, confirmed to ABC News that he is aware of the FBI investigation but said the allegations against him and his firm “are not correct.” Investors said the FBI has recently conducted interviews, and city officials in New Orleans confirmed agents have collected boxes of documents related to the company. A spokesperson for the FBI in New Orleans declined to comment.
$500000 greencard; it's not about Mexicans crossing the border
Known by its visa designation, the EB-5 program has been booming in recent years. Advocates for the program argue that it is creating thousands of American jobs and supporting a wide range of business ventures that may never have gotten off the ground. Critics say, however, it amounts to buying a visa.
The federal official who oversaw the growth of the program, Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, told lawmakers last year that any weaknesses in the program have been tightened. But whistleblowers told ABC News that little has changed since concerns were raised about visa applicants being approved despite being suspected of fraud, money laundering, and in one instance, possible involvement in selling child pornography.
Federal agents in Los Angeles are investigating an L.A. shipping firm and its Iranian-born owner who for years have participated in and promoted an obscure U.S. immigration program -- allowing the company to recruit wealthy foreign investors to receive visas and potentially Green Cards, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The company’s name surfaced in a confidential Department of Homeland Security government document, which raised “concerns that this particular visa program may be abused by Iranian operatives to infiltrate the United States.”
Whistleblowers inside the federal agency that oversees the immigration program told ABC News they have been deeply frustrated by an inability to de-certify the company, even after they became aware of the investigation and saw the company’s name surface in an alarming internal Department Homeland Security memo. The memo, shared with ABC News, outlines concerns that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have attempted to exploit the visa program “to infiltrate the United States.”