US investment-for-PR programme ends up funding luxury projects

New York

A FEDERAL programme meant to encourage investment in the United States from wealthy foreigners is increasingly supporting large luxury real estate projects, not the development in the rural and downtrodden districts that some say were the original targets of the programme.

With billions of dollars flowing in, mostly from wealthy Chinese, the programme faces an uncertain future. In September, Congress reset the expiration date on parts of the so-called EB-5 programme to Dec 9.