In a Beijing ballroom, Kushner family flogs $500,000 investor visa to wealthy Chinese

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. That's not new. About the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program:

EB-5 visa

The EB-5 visa for Immigrant Investors is a United States visa created by the Immigration Act of 1990.

Overview

The EB-5 visa provides a method of obtaining a green card for foreign nationals who invest money in the United States. To obtain the visa, individuals must invest $1,000,000 (or at least $500,000 in a Targeted Employment Area - high unemployment or rural area), creating or preserving at least 10 jobs for U.S. workers excluding the investor and their immediate family. Initially, under the first EB-5 program, the foreign investor was required to create an entirely new commercial enterprise; however, under the Pilot Program investments can be made directly in a job-generating commercial enterprise (new, or existing - "Troubled Business&quot , or into a "Regional Center" - a 3rd party-managed investment vehicle (private or public), which assumes the responsibility of creating the requisite jobs. Regional Centers may charge an administration fee for managing the investor's investment.

What's new is that a family member of the administration currently in office is openly pitching an investment in one of his properties in return for a visa.

Now it's a clearcut quid pro quo.