Last updated on 2014.11.10
I reported Thursday that arbitrator Robert Baines's rejection of any claims for legal fees in Darley v SDIBI knocked the legs out from any excuse the Board of Regents had for not sharing the arbitration documents with the public. The Regents evidently agree: yesterday they acknowledged the end of the arbitration by plunking three fat .zip files onto the front page of their website:
- EB-5 czar Joop Bollen Deposition Exhibits and Condensed Transcripts, April 16–18, 2014
- Bollen partner and EB-5 lawyer James Park Deposition Exhibits and Condensed Transcript, April 24, 2014
- Darley v. SDIBI Arbitration Hearing Transcripts, April 28–30, 2014
Well, there goes my weekend.
Among the nuggets, I find this October 2007 exchange between Robert Stratmore, president of EB-5 recruiter Darley, and Joop Bollen, who said later when he jilted Darley and triggered the whole arbitration mess that the recruitment agreement between Darley and Hanul Law was none of his business.
Scroll past the details of the proposed Min-Kota tilapia plant near Pierre that sought EB-5 financing (a project Bollen nuked in December 2007), and you find Stratmore reviewing Bollen's draft of an EB-5 recruitment letter (which reads very much like a South Dakota EB-5 recruitment letter signed by Bollen and GOED Secretary Richard Benda in August 2007) and asking if they could put it on official state letterhead. Two minutes later (remember, Bob's on Pacific Time, Joop's on Central), Bollen says, "Yes. I will forward it to Pierre for signature."
The emphasis is mine, because we need to emphasize that Bollen was not running his own EB-5 show. He was working very much with Pierre, not with the Board of Regents, but with the Governor's Office of Economic Development. Governor Rounds's Office. Mike Rounds, the guy who swears he had no involvement with the things that went wrong with EB-5 and wants you to trust him to be your Senator.
There's more to come in the Darley/EB-5 documents. Happy reading, everyone!
p.s.: Hey, Board of Regents? When are you going to put the video of Bollen's deposition on YouTube?
Treat! Finally, transparency! if this all that the Regents had, geez what might be in the mother load?
Overload. This going to take sometime to go over, still a interesting read