Jay Peak owner sentenced to 60 months over a Vermont biotech plant that was never built
Ariel Quiros, then of Puerto Rico and formerly of Key Biscayne, Florida, pleaded guilty in August 2020 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and concealing material facts from US Citizenship and Immigration Services over the AnC Vermont EB-5 project. The project aimed to raise $110 million from 220 immigrant investors to build a biotechnology facility in Newport, Vermont. From 2012 to 2016 about 169 investors put in roughly $85 million, and about $8 million was paid in administrative fees. The facility was never built. Quiros was sentenced in April 2022 to 60 months in prison, three years of supervised release and $8,338,600.77 in restitution.
- Year
- 2022
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $85.0 million
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- EB-5 immigrant investor fraud
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-19
The facts, as recorded
- The AnC Vermont EB-5 project aimed to raise $110 million from 220 immigrant investors to build and run a biotechnology facility in Newport, Vermont.
- From 2012 to 2016 about 169 investors put in roughly $85 million, and about $8 million was paid in administrative fees. The facility was never built, and the sentencing judge described the project as a ghost.
- Quiros used investor money for purposes unrelated to the project and helped conceal that misuse, including a $6 million payment to the IRS in early 2015 funded by a loan collateralized with investor funds.
- Investors received a use-of-funds chart with misstatements about the money Quiros and a co-defendant would receive, and the defendants misrepresented when jobs would be created, expected business revenue and the co-defendant's role.
- Quiros helped hide from the Vermont Regional Center that the co-defendant was under investigation in Korea for financial crimes.
- In August 2020 Quiros pleaded guilty to three felonies: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and concealing material facts from USCIS. His plea agreement capped his potential sentence at 97 months and he agreed to cooperate.
- Chief Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford sentenced Quiros to 60 months in prison and three years of supervised release, and ordered $8,338,600.77 in restitution.
- Co-defendants William Stenger and William Kelly were each sentenced to 18 months. A third co-defendant, Jong Weon (Alex) Choi, remained at large.
- US Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest said: "The Jay Peak EB-5 fraud was massive, lengthy, and wide-ranging."
Why this case matters
It shows how an EB-5 fraud can look from the investor’s side. The investors received a use-of-funds chart, and according to the IRS account that chart misstated the money two of the defendants would receive. The defendants also misrepresented when jobs would be created and expected business revenue.
A project that existed on paper
According to the IRS account, the judge called the project a ghost at co-defendant Stenger’s sentencing: the facility the investors funded in Newport was never built. About $85 million had come in from roughly 169 investors, and about $8 million of it had been paid in administrative fees.
The caveat
Quiros pleaded guilty and has been sentenced, so the conduct described above is what he admitted, taken from the IRS account of the case. The account says one co-defendant remained at large when it was published in April 2022, and this page does not report anything about that person beyond that. It does not describe the investors, who are not named, and it does not say whether any have since recovered their money.
Sources
- Ariel Quiros sentenced to 60 months in prison for EB-5 fraud in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. Accessed 2026-10-19. Supports: Every fact above: the AnC Vermont project and its $110 million target, the 169 investors and roughly $85 million, the administrative fees, the project never built, the misuse of funds and the $6 million IRS payment, the misstatements to investors, the August 2020 plea, the 60-month sentence and restitution, the co-defendants' sentences and the US Attorney's quote.