Vermont regulators have frozen the escrow account for the Q Burke Hotel project, citing millions of dollars in unaccounted funds.
The Department of Financial Regulation commissioner said in a February letter that the project's sponsors and developers— Bill Stenger and Ariel Quiros —won't be able to access the escrow account until they show that they've paid for expenses they're obligated to cover and explain where the money went.
The Burlington Free Press reports the $50 million project is being partially funded by foreign investors through a federal government program, EB-5, that offers foreign nationals U.S. residency and conditional green cards in exchange for a $500,000 investment in an economically depressed region of the country.
Stenger says all the money taken from the project has been "put right back in."
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