The court-appointed receiver of a private equity firm has accused California attorney Marilyn Thomassen, her firm, and the American Immigration Law Center, of moving EB-5 investor money into accounts of the private equity firm’s CEO. The suit was for $23 million but both sides settled for the relatively tiny sum of $45,000.
This lawsuit was launched roughly a year and a half after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the private equity firm and another attorney with defrauding EB-5 green card investors to buy a yacht and fund other businesses. The SEC later filed charges against Thomassen, and a partner of the private equity firm in 2018. Thomassen then agreed to pay for $187,000 to settle those claims.
