Chinese Investors Sue Terry McAuliffe, Clinton Brother in Pay for Play US Residency Scam

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A new lawsuit accuses Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia and Hillary Clinton’s brother Anthony Rodham of stealing the “money and dreams” of a group of Chinese investors who propped up a troubled electric-car company, believing they would gain U.S. residency.

The investors filed suit in Fairfax County, Virginia, last week against the automaker, GreenTech Automotive, McAuliffe, Clinton's brother, company CEO Charles Wang and various related companies. The plaintiffs, seeking at least $17.9 million in repayment, accuse the defendants of milking political connections to perpetuate a $120 million scam.

"Plaintiffs now face the prospect of having to uproot their families once again, with the expense and stress of deportation to China looming before them," the lawsuit says.


McAuliffe is set to leave office in January and is often mentioned as a potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.

Pitched nearly a decade ago as a revolutionary company that would use foreign investments to build a new line of energy-efficient cars that would create jobs in the impoverished Mississippi Delta, GreenTech -- which closed a factory in Robinsonville, Mississippi earlier this year -- has failed to live up to those promises and has been a magnet for controversy.

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McAuliffe served as chairman of GreenTech before leaving the company in 2012 to run for governor. Rodham helped run an associated fund designed to attract foreign money from investors intent on green cards.

Rodham declined an Associated Press request for comment. A GreenTech representative did not immediately return an AP email seeking comment.

Documents obtained by AP show that the Department of Homeland Security decided to reject a number of visa requests made through Rodham's fund because GreenTech had created so few jobs.

The lawsuits were first reported by Politico. The Virginia suit alleges that the governor and his associates "exploited" investors' desire to become permanent residents with an implicit message: "Invest $500,000 in our electric car company, and will leverage our political connections to ensure your immigration papers will get to the top of the pile."

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