EB5 Investors Magazine English Edition Volume 6, Issue 2 | Page 36

TOP IMMIGRATION AT TORNEYS ROHIT KAPURIA SAUL EWING ARNSTEIN & LEHR LLP | ATTORNEY Rohit Kapuria, an attorney at Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP, regularly represents EB-5 lenders , borrowers , banks , regional centers, real estate d e ve l o p e r s a n d m i g r a t i o n brokers. Kapuria’s practice is a dual hybrid of corporate securities and EB-5 immigration law. He has worked on over 400 EB-5 transactions, with a combined capital development cost in excess of $7 billion. Kapuria currently represents close to 25 percent of the Indian-born EB-5 investor market. He is also very active in Opportunity Zones, representing clients around the U.S. in such transactions. Kapuria is fluent in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and Hausa. WHAT TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING IN THE EB-5 INDUSTRY? Two trends: redeployment, where our law firm is leading the charge, having structured more than $1 billion worth of redeployed transactions in 2018; and Opportunity Zones (“OZ”), where our law firm has a 40-attorney strong team 36 EB5 INVESTORS M AGAZINE structuring transactions all over the country. OZs are, in some cases, tying back into redeployment, allowing for the EB-5 new commercial enterprises to capitalize on the tax incentives following an asset sale and/or participating alongside an OZ fund in a capital stack, where applicable. One other trend is a large diversification of the global EB-5 investor market as issuers scour the globe for investors. WHY DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE EB-5 INDUSTRY? It was actually by happenstance. I was directed to a meeting with Ron Klasko years back. Because I have a graduate degree in mathematical economics, Klasko engaged me in a number of questions on RIMS II and IMPLAN. Until that point, I was not aware of the inherent import that the economic impact analysis plays within the regional center EB-5 structure. This crossover between transactional law, immigration law and economics had me hooked, and so began my journey in the EB-5 world. I owe my growth and knowledge in this space to Ron Klasko and Ronnie Fieldstone.