Low bridge loan

Chinese investors wanted to select from Large Infrastructure Projects, but the State said, No tickee, no thankee. Now the anti-discrimination brigade gets in the act;

Immigration rules meant to encourage investment in the United States allow wealthy foreigners to essentially buy their way into legal residency through large investments [over $500,000] in American companies or public projects.

....the investors are put on track to obtain citizenship or permanent legal status in the United States. Initially awarded the confusingly titled “conditional permanent residence” status for two years, investors are in an optimal position to petition for a green card and stay in the county indefinitely.

The Chinese investors, working through a firm titled Access the USA, bought $48 million in bonds, in 2011, to fund the first stage of a bridge spanning Lake Washington.

Having made the initial buy, Access the USA was preparing to make the largest single purchase during a second bond sale in May 2012. The firm created funds for the purchase, and was prepared to buy $143 million in state debt when the underwriters [Citibank] stopped working with Access the USA.

....According to the lawsuit, state Treasurer’s Office staff initially denied interfering with the sale but were later found to have been soliciting investors in the weeks before the sale.

“Because foreign investors were involved, the [Washington state] Office of the Treasurer intentionally avoided working with (Access the USA) and refused to include (the firm) in their solicitations to institutional investors,” Mullins said in court papers.

....Attorneys for Access the USA now contend the treasurer’s office violated anti-discrimination laws as well as the securities act. They’ve asked that the state be ordered to pay for the losses sustained by the firm’s clients, as well as punitive damages for discrimination.

The motive was. allegedly, to avoid having a 'bridge built by China' in the state.