Bill Stenger, who has admitted committing a federal crime in an investor fraud scandal in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, is a first-time offender who is too old, too broke and has too many ailments to be sent to federal prison and pay more than $1.6 million in restitution, his attorneys contend.
Lawyers for the 73-year-old Newport resident filed their sentencing recommendation for their client late Tuesday afternoon, calling on Judge Geoffrey Crawford to impose a sentence of home detention for Stenger.
“Any period of incarceration could be a life sentence for Mr. Stenger,” his lawyers, Brooks McArthur and David Williams, wrote in their sentencing memorandum.
The defense team’s advocacy of no jail time for Stenger stands in contrast with prosecutors’ recommendation, filed this week, to lock Stenger up for five years, the maximum allowed under a plea agreement. The prosecutors are also asking the judge to order Stenger to pay $1.66 million in restitution.
Stenger’s attorneys, in their filing, cast their client as barely making ends meet financially, receiving “modest” Social Security income. The defense team argued that their client has lived a law-abiding life and is now “heartbroken” investors suffered harm and lost money.
“The aftermath of Mr. Stenger’s indictment in this case and the consequences it has caused for him and his family have been enough of a deterrent for him to never engage in any type of this behavior ever again,” his attorneys wrote in their filing.
“Given Mr. Stenger’s advanced age and medical condition, there is no doubt that he is elderly and infirm,” the filing added. “As a result of his age and physical condition, a period of time in jail could have grave consequences.”
McArthur, an attorney for Stenger, declined comment Wednesday on the filing. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Van de Graaf, through a spokesperson, also declined comment.
Stenger, Jay Peak’s past president, was indicted in May 2019 along with his former associates, Ariel Quiros, the ski resort’s owner, and William Kelly, a longtime friend and advisor to Quiros.
The three men were all charged with several federal offenses, from fraud to lying to the government, in connection with a collapsed proposal to build a $110 biomedical research center in Newport. In that development, known as AnC Bio Vermont and headed by Quiros and Stenger, more than $80 million was raised from over 160 EB-5 foreign investors who were seeking permanent U.S. residency if the project went as it had been pitched.
Shovels had barely broken ground before federal regulators halted that development in April 2016, terming it “nearly a complete fraud.”
Three years later, in May 2019, after a federal criminal probe spanning several years, prosecutors brought criminal charges against the developers as well as their business partner, Kelly, in the AnC Bio Vermont project.
Quiros and Kelly have reached plea deals and are awaiting sentencing. Stenger also reached a plea agreement and will be the first of the trio sentenced next week.
Stenger pleaded guilty in August 2021 to a charge of submitting a document to the government containing false statements about revenue and job creation projections for the AnC Bio Vermont development.
Stenger’s defense team, in asking for no jail time for their client, wrote that he has several ailments he is currently under doctor’s care for and those could worsen behind bars.
According to his lawyers’ filing, Stenger suffers from medical conditions that have resulted in cognitive impairment, mental fatigue and impaired judgment. He also has a history of prostate cancer, causing the removal of his prostate in 2012 and continued monitoring for a recurrence of the cancer, according to the filing.
He has also had a kidney removed, suffers from Type II diabetes and is still dealing with the after-effects of tuberculosis he had as a child.
“Stenger certainly caused harm to others, and deserves just punishment,” the filing stated. “However, an incarcerative sentence would cause a significant disruption to his medical care plan and further deterioration to his health.”
According to the filing, Stenger has lost everything he had worked for, leaving him with no savings or retirement money.
“The reputation and trust he had built within the community has been tarnished forever,” the filing stated. “The home that he and his wife share is all he has left. Mr. Stenger and his wife receive modest Social Security income.”
A home detention sentence, his defense attorneys wrote in the sentencing document, would allow him to pursue consulting jobs that have been put on hold until his case is resolved.
The filing also stated that, after federal and state regulators brought enforcement actions against Stenger and Quiros in 2016, Stenger worked with the court-appointed receiver Michael Goldberg, who was overseeing the assets at the center of the EB-5 scandal, including Jay Peak.
For two years, the filing stated, Stenger worked as a consultant to Goldberg to help keep Jay Peak and the other assets running, before the receiver dismissed him in May 2019 after the criminal charges were filed.
Goldberg had previously told VTDigger that Stenger was paid $50 per hour for his role as a consultant, and was allowed the use of a vehicle owned by Jay Peak.
The defense filing stated that Stenger’s goal was never to harm investors, but instead to boost and economically transform the Northeast Kingdom in a rural part of Vermont where he lived.
Stenger’s attorneys contended that Quiros was the mastermind of the fraud scheme, and their client was “duped” by the Miami businessman turned Jay Peak owner.
Stenger’s legal team also argued that their client’s role in the scandal should be mitigated for several reasons, including the fact that state officials didn’t alert investors or the public after appearing to become aware of the fraudulent actions.
“Sadly,” Stenger’s lawyers wrote in their sentencing document, “the investors had lost their money and his dream for economic growth in his hometown was crushed.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Stenger’s lawyers in EB-5 fraud case argue any jail time for him ‘could be a life sentence’.