SEC Charges Businessman With Misusing EB-5 Investments
summary
Thomas M. Henderson and San Francisco Regional Center LLC allegedly defrauded $100 million from EB-5 investors by misusing funds for personal expenses and face SEC charges.
paragraph
The SEC charged Thomas M. Henderson and San Francisco Regional Center LLC with defrauding approximately $100 million from foreign investors through the EB-5 program. Henderson allegedly misused at least $9.6 million for personal expenses and $7.5 million to pay marketing agents. The SEC seeks a receiver, preliminary injunctions, disgorgement, and civil penalties.
narrative
The SEC alleged that Thomas M. Henderson and his company San Francisco Regional Center LLC defrauded foreign investors out of $100 million through the EB-5 immigrant investor program by falsely claiming investments would create U.S. jobs. Instead, Henderson misused at least $9.6 million for personal expenses, including his home and personal business projects, and $7.5 million to pay overseas marketing agents. The SEC charged Henderson with securities fraud, alleging he jeopardized investors' residency prospects and shuffled funds among businesses to conceal the fraud. The SEC's complaint, filed in the Northern District of California, seeks a receiver over San Francisco Regional Center and Henderson's other businesses, preliminary injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with interest, and civil penalties. The investigation was conducted by the SEC's San Francisco office with assistance from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The litigation is being led by SEC attorneys Andrew Hefty and Susan LaMarca.
Classified affinity-fraud(confidence 90%). EDGAR detection: forms Form D· recall 58% / precision 2%. detection rule →
Parties
$100 million into a general fundjina l. choioakland based businessmanSecurities and Exchange CommissionThomas M. Henderson
Keywords
seceb-investorshendersonfrancisco regionalcreateinvestorprogramjobssanfranciscobusinessman misusingraised investorsregional centercreate jobs
Exhibits & Attached Documents (1)
Extracted insights
Dollar amounts 4
- $100.00M $100 million $100M–$1B
- $9.60M $9.6 million $1M–$10M
- $7.50M $7.5 million $1M–$10M
- $500K $500,000 $100K–$1M
Entities 5
- company $100 million into a general fund
- person jina l. choi
- person oakland based businessman
- agency Securities and Exchange Commission
- person Thomas M. Henderson
Triples 8
- Securities and Exchange Commission announced fraud charges Oakland based businessman
- Securities and Exchange Commission alleges Thomas M. Henderson and San Francisco Regional Center LLC falsely claimed $500,000 investments would create at least 10 jobs
- Thomas M. Henderson jeopardized investors’ residency prospects
- Thomas M. Henderson combined $100 million into a general fund
- Thomas M. Henderson misused $9.6 million to purchase his home and personal items
- Thomas M. Henderson improperly used $7.5 million to pay overseas marketing agents
- Jina L. Choi said Henderson exploited a program meant to create employment for Americans
- Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking court order appointing a receiver over San Francisco Regional Center and Henderson’s other businesses
PDF (from attached: complaint)
Text layers
Extracted body text (2,471c)
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against an Oakland, Calif.-based businessman accused of misusing money he raised from investors through the EB-5 immigrant investor program intended to create or preserve jobs for U.S. workers. The SEC alleges that Thomas M. Henderson and his company San Francisco Regional Center LLC falsely claimed to foreign investors that their $500,000 investments would help create at least 10 jobs within several distinct EB-5 related businesses he created, including a nursing facility, call centers, and a dairy operation. This would qualify the investors for a potential path to permanent U.S. residency through the EB-5 program. But according to the SEC’s complaint, Henderson jeopardized investors’ residency prospects and combined the $100 million he raised from investors into a general fund from which he allegedly misused at least $9.6 million to purchase his home and personal items and improperly fund several personal business projects such as Bay Area restaurants that were unrelated to the companies he purportedly established to create jobs consistent with EB-5 requirements. According to the SEC’s complaint, Henderson also improperly used $7.5 million of investor money to pay overseas marketing agents, and he shuffled millions of dollars among the EB-5 businesses to obscure his fraudulent scheme. “We allege that Henderson exploited a program meant to create employment for Americans and abused the trust of investors seeking residency in the U.S.,” said Jina L. Choi, Director of the SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office. “Rather than using investor funds to create jobs and develop communities as promised, Henderson allegedly played a shell game with investor money to buy his home and support personal ventures.” The SEC is seeking a court order appointing a receiver over San Francisco Regional Center and Henderson’s other businesses involved in the alleged fraud. The SEC’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seeks preliminary injunctions as well as disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus interest, penalties, and other relief. The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Thomas Eme and Ellen Chen of the San Francisco office and supervised by Steven Buchholz. The litigation will be led by Andrew Hefty and Susan LaMarca. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which administers the EB-5 program.
OCR text (2,471c · plain-text · 99% conf)
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against an Oakland, Calif.-based businessman accused of misusing money he raised from investors through the EB-5 immigrant investor program intended to create or preserve jobs for U.S. workers. The SEC alleges that Thomas M. Henderson and his company San Francisco Regional Center LLC falsely claimed to foreign investors that their $500,000 investments would help create at least 10 jobs within several distinct EB-5 related businesses he created, including a nursing facility, call centers, and a dairy operation. This would qualify the investors for a potential path to permanent U.S. residency through the EB-5 program. But according to the SEC’s complaint, Henderson jeopardized investors’ residency prospects and combined the $100 million he raised from investors into a general fund from which he allegedly misused at least $9.6 million to purchase his home and personal items and improperly fund several personal business projects such as Bay Area restaurants that were unrelated to the companies he purportedly established to create jobs consistent with EB-5 requirements. According to the SEC’s complaint, Henderson also improperly used $7.5 million of investor money to pay overseas marketing agents, and he shuffled millions of dollars among the EB-5 businesses to obscure his fraudulent scheme. “We allege that Henderson exploited a program meant to create employment for Americans and abused the trust of investors seeking residency in the U.S.,” said Jina L. Choi, Director of the SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office. “Rather than using investor funds to create jobs and develop communities as promised, Henderson allegedly played a shell game with investor money to buy his home and support personal ventures.” The SEC is seeking a court order appointing a receiver over San Francisco Regional Center and Henderson’s other businesses involved in the alleged fraud. The SEC’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seeks preliminary injunctions as well as disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus interest, penalties, and other relief. The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Thomas Eme and Ellen Chen of the San Francisco office and supervised by Steven Buchholz. The litigation will be led by Andrew Hefty and Susan LaMarca. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which administers the EB-5 program.