Judge OKs another $1 million-plus in fees for Vermont EB-5 fraud cleanup, bringing total to over $13 million

Attorney Michael Goldberg, left, and Gov. Peter Shumlin answer questions at a news conference in Jay, Vt., on April 27, 2016. Goldberg has been appointed by a federal court in Miami to resolve an alleged $200 million

Attorney Michael Goldberg, left, and Gov. Peter Shumlin answer questions at a news conference in Jay, Vt., on April 27, 2016. Goldberg has been appointed by a federal court in Miami to resolve an alleged $200 million "Ponzi-like" scheme involving two Northeast Kingdom ski resorts and several properties in Newport, Vt. (Valley News - Geoff Hansen) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. Geoff Hansen

By ALAN J. KEAYS

VtDigger

Published: 07-16-2025 9:31 AM

The court-appointed receiver who has worked to help Jay Peak Resort and Burke Mountain Resort emerge from a financial scandal has been granted his request for more than $1 million to help cover his latest costs and expenses for himself and others helping him.

With a judge’s approval Monday, Michael Goldberg’s total bill for his receivership that began in April 2016 has surpassed $13 million.

Goldberg’s latest filing submitted earlier this month covered the receivership from June 1, 2024, through April 30 of this year. For that 11 month period, Goldberg said the receivership amassed $1,185,240 in costs and expenses.

“During the Reporting and Application Period,” Goldberg wrote in the 262-page filing, “the Receiver and his team of professionals made significant progress towards winding down the Receivership and maximizing the value of the estate’s remaining assets for the benefit of defrauded Jay Peak and Burke investors.”

The two resorts were put in receivership in April 2016 after federal and state regulators brought civil enforcement actions against Ariel Quiros, the owner of both resorts, and Bill Stenger, who was Jay Peak’s CEO and president.

Officials alleged in the legal actions the two men misused more than $200 million of the more than $350 million raised from foreign investors through the federal EB-5 visa program. The program allows foreign investors to obtain green cards, or permanent U.S. residency, in exchange for financial investments in qualified development projects.

Quiros and Stenger were later indicted in May 2019 on criminal charges connected to a separate EB-5-financed planned project they headed in the Northeast Kingdom to build a $110 million biomedical research facility, which regulators later called “nearly a complete fraud.”

The two men eventually reached plea deals with prosecutors, sending both of them to prison.

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Stenger has since been released, and Quiros remains in custody in a federal facility in Florida.

Goldberg, in his filing this month, wrote that a great deal of his work focused on the sale of Burke Mountain Resort earlier this year for $11.5 million to Bear Den Partners LLC, a group of people with longtime ties to the ski area.

The sale of Burke Mountain Resort followed the sale of Jay Peak Resort in 2022 to Pacific Group Resorts Inc., based in Park City, Utah, for $76 million.

Goldberg wrote in his filing that the resort was still working to sell “one off” properties in Vermont that are part of the receivership, which he “hopes to accomplish in the next six months.” Those remaining properties, including undeveloped land, were turned over to the receivership as part of a $84 million settlement Quiros reached with regulators to resolve civil enforcement actions against him.

Federal Judge Darrin P. Gayles, who has presided in U.S. District Court in Miami over the receivership since it began in April 2016, approved Goldberg’s request Monday. The case was brought in federal court in Florida because that was where Quiros was living at the time the civil enforcement actions were brought against him.

As a result of Gayles’ approval of Goldberg’s latest fee request, the receivership’s legal and financial costs and expenses totals a little more than $13.5 million since it was established in 2016.

Money to pay those bills has come from revenue generated from the sale of the properties as well as financial settlements reached with several entities over the years for their roles in the financial scandal.

Goldberg could not be reached Monday for comment.

This story was republished with permission from VtDigger, which offers its reporting at no cost to local news organizations through its Community News Sharing Project. To learn more, visit vtdigger.org/community-news-sharing-project.