this is just such a weird story

[CincyDem]

7. Probably a mix of domestic and international investors

I doubt this is fully funded by non-citizens buying their green cards.

I have to believe this guy has some deal structure that predicts a return on the investment over the next 10-20 years. Let's say that's 10% (a little low for a big real estate project but it's an easy number to work with).

The terms of the deal could look like this. International folks - you get 0% return, no matter what happens with the project. Domestic folks - you get all of the returns. If half the investors are non-citizens getting nothing, that makes the return for citizens 20% (double because they don't have to share it with the non-citizen half).

I'll bet the green card angle is more of a marketing edge to get domestic dollars than it is to sell green cards. That's the story of why domestic dollars will get even better returns. For every green card investor, whatever return the project generates will improve for the domestic investors - and that hope will bring in domestic dollars. At this point in the project it's all about selling the dream.

While the selling green cards idea is new, several countries have regulations regarding returns on domestic vs. international investors. I forget which country (Switzerland, I think) says that international investors are limited to 80% of the return provided to domestic investors.