by Mike Donoghue, Correspondent, Vermont Business Magazine William Stenger, the former president of Jay Peak resort, was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in federal prison for his part in a massive foreign investor fraud case.
Stenger also was ordered to make $250,000 in restitution to a group of 36 investors that got swindled by making investments into the EB-5 program that provides residential immigration cards in exchange for $500,000.
Stenger had helped develop several businesses in the Northeast Kingdom based in part on false claims made to government officials in conjunction with the immigration enhancement program.
Chief U.S. District Court Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford told Stenger, 73, he would be under federal supervision for 3 years once he is freed from prison.
Crawford agreed to allow Stenger to self-report to prison on June 7. The court will recommend Stenger serve his time at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Devens, MA, because it has a hospital facility. With good time he could be freed after 15 months.
Brooks McArthur, one of Stenger’s defense lawyers, had argued Stenger should be sentenced to home confinement. He said he thought records show Stenger did not make any money off the fraud. McArthur said Stenger needed to take care of his wife of 50 years, Mary Jane, 73, of Newport.
Assistant US Attorney Paul J Van de Graaf countered Stenger needed to be held accountable and asked for a 5-year prison sentence. Van de Graaf said Stenger may not have...
A front-page article with the byline of veteran New York Times opinion writer Nicholas Kristof is the latest poisonous example of what I call the NGO “halo effect.” Headlined “The Silence That Mee...