Jackley Wanted Justice Department Review Of Its EB-5 Probe
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley released letters Thursday showing that twice during the past year he urged the U.S. attorney general to review the Department of Justice’s conduct in its investigation of the state’s investment-for-visa program.
Jackley, a Republican, sent letters to former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in October 2014 and February 2015 relaying “deep” and “serious” concerns about a DOJ section’s conduct and the appearance of political motivations in the “handling and timing” of the investigation ahead of the 2014 election.
“I’ll let people in South Dakota make that judgment call,” Jackley told The Associated Press on Thursday. “There were ads about the federal investigation running in the U.S. Senate race.”
Jackley said he still hasn’t heard back from the department and stressed that his concerns rely with conduct from “main Justice” in Washington, not local federal law enforcement officials.
A DOJ spokesman declined to comment. An FBI spokesman said an investigation into the program is still pending.
Jackley released the letters on Thursday after the South Dakota Supreme Court ruled that he had used appropriate discretion and followed state law when he declined to release to a journalist the death records of a former state official who was involved the EB-5 scandal. He said he wanted to read the Supreme Court decision before disclosing the letters he wrote about the DOJ Public Integrity Section’s conduct during the investigation into the EB-5 program.
The program recruits wealthy immigrant investors for projects in exchange for green cards. South Dakota was one of the pioneers in EB-5 financing under former Republican Gov. Mike Rounds, who easily won a South Dakota seat in the U.S. Senate in 2014 despite harsh criticism from his opponents of his oversight of the program during his two terms as governor from 2003 to 2010.
A staff member for Rounds didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jackley said in his first letter in October 2014 that federal authorities received notification of violations regarding the visa program from South Dakota attorney Steven Sandven in 2010. Sandven didn’t return a request for comment.
Jackley in the letter also criticized a Department of Justice lawyer’s “aggressive tactics” in serving subpoenas, among other things. The attorney didn’t respond to a request for comment.
“It remains my continued hope and desire to work with the new attorney general … to look into these matters and address any concerns that exist,” Jackley said.
