Former ski resort exec pleads guilty to 1 charge, 9 dropped

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A former Vermont ski resort president pleaded guilty Friday to providing false documents during a failed plan to build a biotechnology plant in Newport using tens of millions of dollars in foreign investors' money.

In exchange for the guilty plea from William Stenger, the former president of Jay Peak Resort, the federal government dropped nine other fraud charges. The 72-year-old faces up to five years in prison.

Stenger's lawyer Brooks McArthur said after the hearing that Miami businessman Ariel Quiros, the former owner of Jay Peak and Burke Mountain Resort, and his advisor William Kelly, were career con men and fraudsters who took advantage of Stenger.

In 2019, Quiros, Stenger and Kelly were indicted criminally over a failed plan to build the biotechnology plant in Newport, Vermont, using millions raised through the EB-5 program. The visa program encourages foreigners to invest in U.S. projects that create jobs in exchange for a chance to earn permanent U.S. residency.

The AnC-Bio project was designed to raise $110 million from 220 immigrant investors to construct and operate the biotechnology facility, according to proceedings and documents.

There were about 800 investors in a total of eight projects, which brought the promise of jobs to the Northeast Kingdom. The remote area has some of the highest unemployment rates in the state.

The investors could qualify for permanent resident status by investing $500,000 in an approved commercial enterprise.

About 169 investors put in about $85 million to the project, in addition to paying $8 million in “administrative fees,” according to the U.S. attorney’s office. The plant was never built.

Quiros, who was accused of being the mastermind behind the scheme, pleaded guilty last year to charges of...