Pierre, SD (KELO-AM) Felony criminal charges have been filed in South Dakota's long-running EB-5 scandal.
Attorney General Marty Jackley says charges have been filed against Joop Bollen, who headed SDRC, Inc., which controled South Dakota's EB-5 program. Jacley says Bollen voluntarily turned himself in and then was released on bond.
Bollen is accused of improperly disposing of over $1.2 million in a fund related to EB-5.
The inititial appearance on the charges is scheduled for Friday, April 1 in the Brown County Courthouse.
The EB-5 program gave green cards to foreigners who invested in South Dakota projects, such as the failed Northern Beef Packers plant in Aberdeen.
The lid really came off the top of the controversial program with the Richard Benda suicide in 2013. The former state economic development director killed himself in a shelter belt in Charles Mix County. He was under investigation related to EB-5.
Bollen has met with criminal investigators in the past, but what they asked him or what he told them is not known.