PhoenixMart: FBI Searched offices Thursday

PhoenixMart says “business as normal” Friday

The Casa Grande Dispatch is reporting the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a search Thursday morning of the PhoenixMart offices in Casa Grande and Scottsdale.

Multiple FBI agents from the bureau’s Phoenix office were seen searching through stacks of binders and folders in the offices adjacent to the PhoenixMart Welcome Center, located on Tanger Drive at the CityGate outlet center.

Phoenix Business Journal is also reporting that federal officials speaking on background because of not being authorized to speak to the media said while they couldn’t comment on specific investors’ status, failure to make the required capital investment or create the required jobs within two years was grounds for deportation on a conditional EB-5 visa. They confirmed that for some investors in this project, the two-year deadline has passed.

The EB-5 visa is designed to help bring foreign money into investments in the U.S. while allowing those who make the investments to stay in the country temporarily.

The agents reportedly were investigating one of the project’s former investors, according to AZ Sourcing Public Relations Senior Vice President Patrick Welch. AZ Sourcing is the parent company overseeing PhoenixMart.

Welch said the FBI did not inform the company of the identity of the former investor or why the person was being investigated. He added that AZ Sourcing was first informed of this investigation the same day the FBI conducted the search.

PhoenixMart initially was to be funded through the EB-5 federal immigrant investor program, which hands out U.S. residency visas to foreign investors who contribute $500,000 to a project that creates at least 10 full-time American jobs.

Welch told Cronkite News earlier this year that AZ Sourcing had secured at least 300 foreign investors from five different continents.

The money generated from the investors has not been delivered as quickly as expected due to a backlog at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. This delay forced AZ Sourcing management to seek alternative funding methods, such as bank loans, to continue construction on PhoenixMart.

Casa Grande officials were not aware of an FBI investigation until Thursday. The city released the following statement:

“The City of Casa Grande has been informed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is conducting an ongoing investigation of PhoenixMart. The City has not been contacted by the federal government regarding this investigation, but is committed to providing its fullest level of cooperation. The City’s top priority is providing the highest quality of service delivery and transparency to its community, and will continue to conduct its business in accordance with the highest standards of integrity.”

The PhoenixMart Welcome Center in CityGate is scheduled to open publicly by mid-December.

This summer AZ Sourcing officials said “vertical” construction was scheduled to begin in October at the site. However, last month officials said construction was delayed while the company obtains proper building permits from the city.

Rob Kobierowski, vice president of construction for Az Sourcing, said at the time there were “several hurdles” with getting the final design plan to fit all the technical requirements mandated by the city’s building codes. The size and multi-use aspect of the PhoenixMart building, Kobierowski said, raised new questions that may take inspectors and designers longer to answer.

However, Casa Grande Planning and Development Director Paul Tice said recommendations given to PhoenixMart mostly pertained to small, technical details of the building’s design. Fire Marshal Barbara Rice said recommendations given to PhoenixMart were standard and similar to those of any other building project.

In the wake of a morning raid by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, PhoenixMart officials say that they will be back in the office tomorrow.

“We’re cooperating fully with the FBI,” said Patrick Welch, vice president of AzSourcing, parent company of the proposed 1.7 million-square-foot Casa Grande expo center. “Originally the FBI said that they were investigating one of our investors.”