The Electric Car company Democrat Terry McAuliffe was hoping would help him become Virginia’s Governor is continuing to cause major problems.
According to court documents obtained by Watchdog.org, GreenTech Automotive is owned by Capital Wealth Holdings, an investment company incorporated in the much-maligned tax shelter, the British Virgin Islands.
Watchdog.org reports:
Fledgling GreenTech was founded in 2009 by Chinese businessman Charles Wang, who owns Capital Wealth Holdings (CWH), an investment company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
According to court documents, GreenTech is a subsidiary of CWH and McAuliffe obtained 25 percent of the stock. GreenTech’s headquarters were then incorporated in Virginia and its manufacturing plant was located in Mississippi. Next, it started recruiting outside investors—primarily from China—through a program called EB-5 that grants visas to foreign citizens in exchange for minimum $500,000 investments in U.S. companies.
"The Chinese government has the U.S. auto industry in its cross hairs and is using every ploy possible to get into the business via U.S. politicians and struggling entrepreneurs in the ‘green car’ industry," said economist Greg Autry, who lectures on China and authored the book "Death By China – Confronting the Dragon."
McAuliffe has recently been trying to run away from his chairmanship of GreenTech.
His campaign quietly announced earlier this month that McAuliffe had resigned as chairman of GreenTech as of Dec. 1, 2012. He remains an investor.
GreenTech being a subsidiary of an offshore investment company may add to an already troubling narrative.
McAuliffe promised that GreenTech would bring 1,500 jobs to the United States in 2009.
McAuliffe then decided to bring the company’s operations to Mississippi instead of Virginia. The company created just 78 jobs.
When asked yesterday why he chose to open the plant in Mississippi, McAuliffe responded, "it is what it is."
Memos from Virginia officials expressed "grave doubts" about GreenTech’s business model and suggested the company’s financing served as a "visa-for-sale scheme" for Chinese investors.
GreenTech’s use of the EB-5 program, a program that grants visas to foreign citizens in exchange for investing in U.S. companies, is what put the officials on notice.
Charles Wang, the owner of Capital Wealth Holdings and president and chief executive officer of GreenTech, has counseled U.S. companies on how to best use the EB-5 program in the past.
GreenTech has been able to secure major investment from overseas, especially from China, through the EB-5 program.
Anthony Rodham, Hillary Clinton's brother, has been assisting in obtaining these investments. Rodham runs Grand Gulf Funds Management, a Virginia company that guides foreign investors into the EB-5 system.