Between 2016 and 2018, more than twenty Chinese investors each put $500,000 into an EB-5 project combining a hotel and commercial space in Southern California. The project raised close to $100 million. In November 2022 the SEC sued two principals of the regional center, alleging they had diverted more than $30 million to repay personal debts and buy other properties. The court froze the assets and appointed a receiver. Construction had already been halted for more than a year. In early 2023 the investors began coming to Lingtu Law. They asked two questions: whether there was still a path to a green card, and whether the money could be recovered.

• The old project still supported their immigration applications, so rushing to recover money could have damaged those applications.
• The escrow bank released the first payment of more than $20 million when the release conditions had not been met, based on a single email from a principal.
• Most of the potential recovery came from the principal's insurance, and the defendants' legal fees were being drawn from the policies.

• Protecting green cards came first. The law gives uninformed investors a route: once a project is terminated for fraud, investors may move to a new project within the deadline and keep their original priority dates. The immigration service issued the termination notice in April 2023. We helped clients choose new projects, and by September all 26 had completed the transfer.
• Then recovery. Our argument to the court was simple: a bank that accepts an escrow role must follow the agreement, and funds that should not be released must not be released. In August 2024 the court rejected most of the bank's grounds for dismissal.
• We tracked the insurance balance quarterly. At the December 2025 mediation we put the numbers on the table: any further delay meant everyone would receive less. The bank, the fund manager and several insurers ultimately contributed to the settlement.

Date	Milestone
November 2022	SEC sued the regional center's principals in federal district court; the court froze assets and appointed a receiver
April 2023	Immigration service issued a termination notice for the regional center; in the same month Lingtu Law sued the principals, the escrow bank and the fund manager on behalf of clients
September 2023	All 26 clients moved to new projects within the deadline and submitted related documents
August 2024	Court rejected most of the escrow bank's grounds for dismissal; the case moved into discovery
December 2025	Multi-party mediated settlement; bank, fund manager and insurers jointly funded it
July 2026	Court approved the settlement and the final distribution plan
September 2026	No appeal was filed within the appeal period; settlement and distribution funds arrived

Combining the receiver's distribution with the settlement, the 26 clients recovered about $10.5 million in total, roughly 80% of their principal. Most kept their original priority dates in the new projects, and none was denied because of the old project.