The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday announced fraud charges and an asset freeze against an economic citizen of Grenada and his wife accused of misusing two-thirds of the money they raised from investors for the purpose of building and operating a new cancer treatment center that would use proton beam radiation to help oncology patients in Southern California. According to the SEC’s complaint unsealed on Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles, Charles C. Liu and Xin “Lisa” Wang raised $27 million for the proton therapy cancer treatment centre from 50 investors in China through the EB-5 immigrant investor program. They touted in promotional materials that the project would create more than 4,500 new jobs and have a substantial impact on the local economy while giving foreign investors an opportunity for future US residency. But presently there is no construction at the proposed site after more than 18 months of collecting investments. Liu meanwhile has transferred $11 million in investor funds to three firms in China and diverted another $7 million to his and his wife’s personal accounts. In granting the SEC’s request to freeze the assets and accounts of Liu, Wang, and related entities, the court’s order prohibits them from raising further money from investors or spending remaining funds. “We allege that Liu and Wang are using investor funds as their personal piggy bank and exploiting Chinese residents who were assured they were investing in an innovative project to create jobs and cure cancer patients,” said Michele Layne, director of the SEC’s Los Angeles Regional Office. According to the SEC’s complaint, one of the websites Liu and Wang have used to promote investments in the cancer centre project includes a section entitled “Government Support” with photos of former president George Herbert Walker Bush and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Their photos are accompanied by what appear to be letters they wrote in support of proton therapy in general rather than the depicted EB-5 project, which had not even been initiated at the time the letters were written. The SEC’s complaint names Liu and Wang along with the companies behind the EB-5 project: Pacific Proton Therapy Regional Center, Pacific Proton EB-5 Fund, and Beverly Proton Center LLC. They are charged with violating antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5. The SEC seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions as well as the disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus interest and penalties. According to a press statement by the government of Grenada on Friday, Liu is a citizen of Grenada under Section 11 of Grenada's Citizen By Investment Act, and one of the significant investors in the proposed Mt Hartman Project. The government said it continues to monitor the situation, to communicate with all diplomatic and other sources, and continues to fully engage mutual cooperation with all the parties concerned. “The government of Grenada stands ready to take the appropriate action as the facts are ascertained,” the statement said. Just last week it was revealed that two St Kitts and Nevis economic citizens had been charged by the SEC with running a fraudulent investment scheme and the government there moved very quickly to revoke their citizenships. It remains to be seen whether or nor Grenada will act equally expeditiously. Source: Caribbean News Now