EB-5 FOIA Litigation
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) plays a pivotal role in fostering transparency and accountability. KKTP’s FOIA work, in collaboration with other organizations with an interest in the EB-5 arena, seeks to aid regional centers and EB-5 investors by helping illuminate USCIS policies and procedures that affect their cases.
Below are the results of some of our FOIA work:
CHAP Guidance & Source of Funds From “Unlawful Entities” Litigation
Topic: This FOIA request targeted EB-5 guidance contained in the USCIS Consolidated Handbook of Adjudications Procedures (“CHAP”), a USCIS-facing companion to the USCIS Policy Manual, as well as records concerning USCIS’s targeting of funds sourced from alleged “unlawful entities”—including records from the IPO’s “Source of Funds from Unlawful Entities Working Group.”
IIUSA v. USCIS, 1:24-cv-1379 (D.D.C.)
Key Documents Obtained:
| Undated | Vol. 6, Part G of the USCIS Consolidated Handbook of Adjudications Procedures |
EB-5 Source/Path of Funds and “Currency Swap” Litigation
Topic: This FOIA request targeted records related to USCIS’s policy change on “currency swap” (or “Informal Value Transfers”) and related changes to USCIS’s adjudication of EB-5 investors’ sources of funds and the path of funds.
IIUSA v. USCIS, 1:22-cv-2687 (D.D.C.)
Key Documents Obtained:
| Date | Document Title |
| 05/06/2019 | IPO Training on Lawful Source & Path of Funds |
| 05/10/2019 | IPO Training on Lawful Source of Funds in EB-5 Adjudications |
| 07/2019 | IPO FDNS Screening Branch Overview |
| 10/16/2019 | IVT in I-829 Adjudications |
| 11/23/2020 | IPO Overview of the EB-5 Program |
| 04/25/2021 | IPO Training on Adjudicator Use of the Department of State’s Consolidated Consular Database |
| 05/18/2021 | IPO Compliance Presentation on Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) |
| 05/25/2021 | IPO Presentation on Cryptocurrency in EB-5 Adjudications |
| 06/17/2021 | Monthly Case Discussion: Cryptocurrency Case Example |
| 04/05/2022 | Informal Value Transfers for Compliance Officers |
| Undated | Cryptocurrency Q&A |
| Undated | ICE Homeland Security Investigations Presentation to IPO re: Cryptocurrency |
| Undated | IPO Guidance on Various Topics Material Change And Bonds |
| Undated | USCIS Policy |
All FOIA productions from this lawsuit can be accessed here. For full download, contact Kurzban Kurzban Tetzeli & Pratt, P.A. by email or phone at 305-744-5888
