US 'Green Cards for Cash' Business owner Charged in $110 Million Scheme

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A California man accused of building a business empire by exploiting a controversial government-sponsored visa program for wealthy foreigners was arrested on Tuesday on charges of defrauding Chinese and other foreign investors seeking residency in the United States.

Thomas Henderson allegedly raised more than $110 million from more than 200 foreign investors seeking U.S. residency under the EB-5 visa program only to divert the funds into private investment projects, jeopardizing more than 2,000 jobs in northern California, according to a grand jury indictment unsealed on Tuesday. 

Henderson, 70, and two accomplices  – Kexing Hu and Cooper Lee - were charged with conspiracy to misappropriate foreign investor funds; lying to foreign investors about the use of their funds; and making false statements to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, the administrator of the EB-5 program.

Henderson and Lee were arrested Tuesday morning.  Hu, who operated Henderson’s Shanghai office and solicited investors in China, remains at large. 

The three face multiple charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States and making false statements.

A lawyer for Henderson could not be immediately reached for comment.  Henderson has previously denied any wrongdoing. 

The indictment comes less than a year after Henderson agreed to pay more than $1.4 million in penalties to settle a fraud lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The EB-5 program was created by Congress in 1990 to promote economic growth and job creation in the United States by encouraging foreign investment.  Under the program, foreign nationals may receive permanent residency by investing a minimum of $500,000 to $1 million in a U.S. business that creates at least 10 jobs.

In 2011, Henderson created the San Francisco Regional Center to solicit funds from foreign investors under the EB-5 program.   

On its website, SFRC boasts that it is the only USCIS-designated organization in Northern California to have secured all its investors "conditional" permanent residency.