Florida Investment bank Raymond James & Associates is opposing a proposed $8 million settlement that would resolve claims against law firms implicated in the failed Jay Peak ski resort EB-5 immigrant investor scam, arguing that the deal doesn’t include its entitlement to 75% of the resort receiver’s proceeds.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
The St. Petersburg-based bank notified U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles that it plans to object to the receiver’s proposed settlement with investors and three other law firms in an upcoming settlement approval hearing.
The bank stated the deal doesn’t account for Raymond James’ share of the receiver’s net proceeds, which it argued it’s entitled to under its separate settlement agreement with the two dozen entities behind the failed Jay Peak ski resort in Vermont.
“[In the settlement], $2.8 million is directed to be disbursed to the [investor] plaintiffs or their counsel. Raymond James makes no claim to any portion of these funds,” the brief says. “The remaining $5.2 million, however, is subject to Raymond James’ rights.”
The proposed settlement is the latest development in a legal battle started by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2016. The SEC alleged a “massive eight-year fraudulent scheme” in which Miami businessman, Ariel Quiros, allegedly pirated more than $50 million of the more than $350 million that was raised for a ski resort from foreign investors.
He ripped off hundreds of investors through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s EB-5 immigrant investor program and in February 2018, Quiros cut a deal to resolve the SEC’s claims against him, agreeing he was liable. This settlement included $81 million in disgorgement, an agreement to pay a $1 million civil penalty and to forfeit roughly $417,000 in cash. He was received a lifetime ban from the EB-5 immigrant investment program.
In the SEC action in January of this year, Judge Gayles preliminary approved a proposed settlement filed by Michael I. Goldberg, the court-appointed receiver for the entities related to the Jay Peak ski resort.
If approved, the deal would not only resolve the investor action, but would also end potential claims that could be filed between the receiver and the 3 law firms involved in the objection.
Earlier this month, however, Raymond James said it plans to object to the proposal, criticizing it for not being specific enough about how the claims will be administered.
“In conversation with the receiver, Raymond James was advised that the funds described in [the agreement] were intended to be disbursed to investors through a claims process, but that is not clear from the Cason settlement agreement, which provides that they may be paid to third parties, which are not described, through a claims process which is not described,” the brief says.
A hearing on the deal’s approval is scheduled for April 6.
Read more articles from Haute Lawyer, visit https://hauteliving.com/hautelawyer/
Attorney Talk
March 17, 2021Haute Leaders Dinner Series Launches At Uchi Miami
