Ariel Quiros, 64, of Key Biscayne, Florida, pleaded guilty today to a sprawling $85 million fraud scheme that preyed on immigrant investors seeking green cards through the EB-5 program. In a packed federal courtroom in Burlington, Vermont, Quiros admitted to orchestrating a multi-year wire fraud conspiracy tied to the Jay Peak Biomedical Research Park project—also known as the AnC Vermont project—deceiving investors while looting millions for personal use.
Quiros pleaded guilty to three felony counts: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and concealing material facts from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). He admitted to scheming with co-defendants William Kelly, Jong Weon (Alex) Choi, and William Stenger to mislead at least 169 investors who collectively poured $85 million into the project, plus $8 million in administrative fees. The AnC Vermont project promised to build a biotech facility in Newport, Vermont, but delivered little more than lies and empty buildings.
According to the statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, the scam began in 2011 and ran until April 2016, when Quiros lost control. Investors were told their $500,000 contributions—each required to create ten U.S. jobs—would fund a cutting-edge biomedical enterprise renting clean rooms, producing stem cell therapies, and manufacturing artificial organs. Quiros admitted these claims were lies. There was no viable plan to create jobs or generate revenue, and the projections were fabricated solely to satisfy USCIS requirements.
Quiros confessed to diverting investor funds to cover personal financial liabilities, including a $6 million IRS payment in early 2015—funds funneled through a Citibank loan collateralized with EB-5 money. He also used investor cash to repay a loan at Raymond James. None of these transactions had anything to do with the AnC project. The plea documents reveal he helped conceal the involvement of Jong Weon (Alex) Choi, who was under investigation in Korea for financial crimes—a fact deliberately hidden from the Vermont Regional Center, the state agency overseeing the program.
Marketing materials handed to investors contained false use-of-funds charts, inflating projected investments in core operations while hiding the millions siphoned off by Quiros and his co-defendants. The job creation timeline was also falsified. Investors were sold a fantasy of rapid development and guaranteed returns, but the reality was a hollow shell propped up by deception and federal oversight failures.
As part of the plea agreement, Quiros has agreed to cooperate with the government’s ongoing investigation. The deal caps his potential prison exposure but does not erase the damage done to hundreds of immigrant families who risked their life savings for a chance at the American dream. Sentencing has been set for a later date, but the fall of the Jay Peak EB-5 empire marks one of the most brazen financial frauds in recent Vermont history.
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Key Facts
- State: Vermont
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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