Broadcast on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered”
It was a grand plan. Jay Peak was a modest ski area transformed to a year-round destination. Now the resort would lead the biggest private investment Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom had ever seen – about a half billion dollars to revive the region’s rural economy with tourist developments, plus manufacturing from windows to airplanes to biotech.
Now the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and state regulators say Jay Peak’s EB-5 scheme was a fraud. Stenger and resort owner Ariel Quiros face 62 civil charges of misleading investors and misusing more than $200 million of their money, including $50 million for Quiros’s personal benefit. Stenger has denied wrongdoing to local press. Neither could be reached for comment. The two are locked out of their resorts, which will stay open under an appointed receiver. Quiros says assets are frozen. Criminal charges may follow.