Former Vermont governor & officials resist deposition in Jay Peak lawsuit; investors’ lawyer says the state is hiding the truth

Peter Shumlin, governor of Vermont when the Jay Peak fraud scandal occurred, doesn’t want to testify about an alleged kickback scheme to pay an attorney, Shen Jianming, who promoted Jay Peak to Chinese investors. Shumlin, in a filing to block his deposition in the lawsuit, denies he has any knowledge of the scheme.The lawyer representing a group of EB-5 investors who were victims of the Jay Peak fraud, is accusing a group of former state officials of being negligent — and even complicit — in the fraud. The lawyer wants Shumlin and others to testify about the alleged kickback.Shumlin has been silent about the scandal since leaving office more than two years ago. He has stated that he never made misrepresentations about the project — even though he was in a 2013 promotional film that falsely claimed the project was audited by the state.The lawyer for the EB5 green card investors claims he is being “stonewalled by the State of Vermont” and that the “Attorney General’s office is doing whatever it can to prevent the truth from coming out.”The lawyer is asking the judge in the case to compel the depositions of Shumlin and other officials.See the VTDigger story