USA Now director, employee plead guilty in Ponzi scheme case
McALLEN Mexican investors seeking a path to the United States found themselves the victims of a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme tied to an EB-5 regional center.
Instead of secured Visas for those investments, federal prosecutors allege that the now-defunct USA Now Regional Centers owner and director, Marco Antonio Ramirez, 47, and Bebe Ann Ramirez, 43, of McAllen, took millions from foreign investors and redirected it to pay other investors.
The Ramirezes have also been accused of using investors money to pay off expenses and debts.
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This development takes place now more than four years after FBI agents raided the Ramirezes home and businesses. The raid was part of an investigation into their dealings as owner and director of USA Now Regional Center, a McAllen-based foreign investment firm that took money from foreign investors interested in securing green cards for themselves and their families in exchange for investing in local economic development projects.
Federal investigators said the center bilked at least $5 million in securities sold to foreign investors pursuing U.S. green cards.
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