TOP CORPORATE ATTORNEYS
DEBBIE KLIS Shareholder Polsinelli PC
Debbie Klis is a shareholder at Polsinelli PC.
She has a broad financial practice focused on business, securities and private fund formation including EB-5 investment funds and regional centers, hedge funds, private equity and real estate funds and international master-feeder funds. Her experience includes structuring successful debt and equity EB-5 investments coupled with public financing: HUD
Section 221( d) 4 senior mortgage loans, the low-income housing tax credit, federal and state historic tax credits, new market tax credits, local government revenue bonds, tax-exempt municipal bonds, federal energy tax credits, crowdfunding and assorted sources of private financing. Klis’ project experience with EB-5 financing includes mixed-use commercial projects, condominium and single-family home construction, green-energy solar farms, restaurants, hotels, casinos, a national museum, a research and development facility and other real estate and company financings. Klis is a frequent speaker and author regarding EB-5 project finance and related securities and corporate matters.
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE FUTURE OF THE EB-5 INDUSTRY LOOKS LIKE?
I foresee a few major changes, including: amendments to the TEA definition favoring investments in rural areas and closed military bases and restricting the TEA definition in urban areas, increases to the minimum investment requirements, mandatory use of escrow agents to oversee collection and deployment of EB-5 funds, and USCIS project preapproval mandates. I would like to see reforms including: no changes to the TEA definition in urban areas; increases to the number of visas; minimal increase to the investment amounts with gradual increases over time; clarity regarding deployment in atrisk investments; and a carryover of investors’ time in the queue when they amend their I-526 petition because of unforeseeable changes and incentives for utilizing EB-5 funds for lowincome housing projects.
HOW ARE YOU HANDLING THE ISSUE OF REDEPLOYMENT?
I have included redeployment language in our clients’ offering documents for several years so we are well positioned to assist them with project restructurings, refinancings and assets sales as business needs shift. For new clients, I am relying on the policy guidance in the updated USCIS Policy Manual, which provides flexibility to meet the realities of the business world. In reliance on the Policy Manual, I am assisting clients to restructure projects – educating regional center principals in order to gain their permission for the restructuring, the new investment and the release of collateral from the original investment – and guiding clients on replacement investments.
JOR LAW Co-founder, Homeier Law PC Co-founder, VerifyInvestor. com
Jor Law is a co-founder of Homeier Law
PC, practicing corporate and securities transactional law in Los Angeles. Law maintains a broad-based general corporate legal practice with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions and finance. He is particularly experienced in alternative finance, including EB-5 finance, crowdfunding and cryptocurrency / blockchain initial coin offerings. Law founded Homeier
Law’ s EB-5 practice, which represents hundreds of EB-5 clients who have successfully contributed billions of dollars through the EB-5 program. Homeier Law also continues to influence policy changes and reforms to the EB-5 program. Law received his J. D. from Columbia University and his bachelor’ s degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Law is licensed to practice law in California and New York. Law is also a co-founder and the principal architect of verifyInvestor. com, a provider of accredited investor verification compliance solutions.
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE FUTURE OF THE EB-5 INDUSTRY LOOKS LIKE?
I expect that we will see the EB-5 industry continue its global diversification away from China. There may be an increase in the use of crowdfunding laws and techniques to locate EB-5 investors as it becomes exponentially costly to market in multiple countries around the world. I would like to see faster processing times, a less paranoid approach for adjudication and practical integrity measures. In addition, I would like to see investors who have made a qualifying investment not be penalized simply because the“ at-risk” investment actually failed.
HOW ARE YOU HANDLING THE ISSUE OF REDEPLOYMENT?
We specifically address the concept of redeployment both in definitive documents as well as disclosure documents with several options available for clients to choose from. Our firm takes a tiered approach toward redeployment, which is aimed to give maximum flexibility with the least amount of liability. We also are now advising on a number of workout situations where we have been retained typically by a new project to help them transition investors from another failed project into their own project.
EB5INVESTORS. COM 74