Matt Smith has a doozy of a story at CIR on former Mayor Willie Brown's ties to a firm that's trying to lure investors from China to put money into the Hunters Point redevelopment project in exchange for immigration visas.
The former mayor's role isn't new; the Guardian broke the news more than two years ago that Brown was involved with a company that essentially brokers green cards for people from other countries that want to become Americans and are willing to invest more than $500,000 in a US business.
But what makes the story so much fun is Brown's denial that he's part of what really looks like an inside deal with local officials pushing for the private investments. He tells Smith over and over that he's never heard of a company that lists him as a partner and touts him in pitches to Chinese investors as the "chairman." Mayor Ed Lee claims he doesn't know anything about it either. Amazing.
The BARC is minting visas for wealthy foreigners, reserving housing at Hunters Point for them to move into and taking a significant cut off of the top to compensate the principals of the BARC for their efforts.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, San Franciscans come last.