A federal court judge has partially modified his order to freeze the assets of Miami businessman Ariel Quiros, while the Securities and Exchange Commission’s fraud case against him proceeds.
The SEC charged Quiros and his partner, Bill Stenger, with 52 counts of securities violations for running a Ponzi-like scheme in the Northeast Kingdom using the EB-5 immigrant visa program to defraud investors and siphon off millions of dollars from unfinished development projects.
The judges Thursday order grants Quiros access to $41,000 in three Merrill Lynch accounts he shares with his wife. An attorney for Quiros had requested his assets be unfrozen so he could pay for his legal defense and provide for his family.
“Literally, Quiros cannot purchase food or a cup of coffee, let alone defend against the SEC’s allegations,” wrote Quiros’ attorney in the request for his assets to be unfrozen. His attorney had, however, requested that millions of dollars in Quiros’ assets be made available to him. In that filing, the attorney said Quiros had assets of more than $200 million.
In a separate filing last week, Michael Goldberg, the court appointed receiver in the case, argued that unfreezing that much of Quiros’ assets would imperil his ability to manage other assets seized in the case, including the Jay Peak and Q Burke Mountain resorts.
Goldberg suggested in his filings that those businesses could go belly-up if the court returned millions of dollars in Quiros’ assets. Goldberg has since told the media that he was painting a worst case scenario, and the businesses are safe provided the lion’s share of Quiros’ assets remain frozen.
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