A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced William Kelly to 18 months in prison for his role in the EB-5 scandal. He also must pay more than $8.3 million in restitution and faces three years of supervised release.
Kelly, 73, is one of four men by federal prosecutors in 2019 over a scheme to build a biotech facility in Newport. The AnC Bio project, which prosecutors say was a total fraud, was never completed and the men embezzled money raised for the project.
The funds for the biotech project and several other developments in the Northeast Kingdom came from the federal EB-5 program, which offers foreign investors citizenship if they put $500,000 into development projects in economically depressed regions of the country. Some of the Northeast Kingdom projects funded through the EB-5 program, like a waterpark at Jay Peak ski resort, were built. Many, including the biotech facility, never came to fruition.
Kelly pleaded guilty in June 2021 to conspiring with Ariel Qurios, Bill Stenger and Jong Weon (Alex) Choi in a wire fraud scheme using the EB-5 program. Kelly also pleaded guilty to concealing material facts.
Kelly, in his guilty plea, admitted that he and his co-defendants misled investors about how funds would be used, the number of jobs that would be created by AnC Bio and the timeline to create those jobs. Prosecutors say Kelly also admitted to helping Qurios conceal the fact that he used investors funds for personal expenses.
Stenger, the former president of Jay Peak ski resort, was sentenced to 18 months in prison . Qurios, who pleaded guilty to three fraud charges, is set to be sentenced next week. Choi is still at large, according to federal authorities.
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