State auditor Doug Hoffer, shown here taking the oath of office in 2013, has been historically critical of the EB-5 investor visa program. We’re talking to him about what we can learn from the case of alleged fraud in the Northeast Kingdom.
TOBY TALBOT / AP

By JANE LINDHOLM & SAM GALE ROSEN • JUL 21, 2016

Debate continues over what state officials knew when about the alleged EB-5 fraud in the Northeast Kingdom.  Four guests join us today to discuss the situation.

We’ll hear an update from independent investigative reporter Hilary Niles on the latest details of new information that has come to light.

Mike Pieciak,  the commissioner of the Department of Financial Regulation, then provides his perspective on the controversy and how the timeline of the investigation unfolded.

Later in the program, we’ll be joined by Vermont state auditor Doug Hoffer. He says that the EB-5 scandal also demonstrates problems with how the state gauges the effectiveness of many of its economic development programs and  that fuzzy data at the heart of the programs make their benefits nearly impossible to assess in any systematic way.

We’ll then hear from Pat Moulton, Secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, to respond to Hoffer’s concerns.

Correction 12:29 p.m. A previous version of this post misspelled Mike Pieciak’s name. It has been corrected.

http://digital.vpr.net/post/perspectives-eb-5-scandal#stream/0