Meanwhile, the same day that Joop Bollen goes to court to hear his felony charges, his old boss Mike Rounds Tweets this photo of himself:
Asked by WNAX about the EB-5 program that Bollen ran for Rounds, our junior Senator tries to shift blame to the feds for not providing enough oversight:
The state of South Dakota would use different federal programs on a regular basis and you always assume that if the federal program is in place that they have a control process in place. We’re finding in some cases that that is not the case [Senator Mike Rounds, in “Charges Filed in EB5 Case; SD Senator Mike Rounds Says More Federal Oversight Needed,” WNAX Radio, 2016.04.01].
South Dakota gets itself EB-5 Regional Center designation, lets its EB-5 chief privatize his state jobfor profit, lets him operate under a veil of corporate secrecy, refuses to subpoena his business records even after the main state official who worked with commits suicide, and Mike Rounds says the feds didn’t watch Joop Bollen closely enough? Oh, the con is definitely on.
The feds do have a control process, Mike. They’ve reviewed South Dakota’s management of the EB-5 program you started, and they’ve deemed us too corrupt to run EB-5.
Senator Rounds says he’s offered to help impose more federal oversight on EB-5:
…[L]ike I said two years ago, any federal program, if you can make it better, you try to make it better. If additional oversight is needed, I’ve talked with Senator Grassley, he’s been kinda leading the charge on it, and we’ve offered our assistance to provide additional oversight for the EB-5 program if we can get that done [Rounds, WNAX, 2016.04.01].
Additional oversight means more government overseers, carrying out more actions with more authority. In other words, Republican Mike Rounds wants even bigger government. Good grief—Rounds doesn’t pay attention to his words or his Tweets…
…or his votes. Rounds didn’t let any concern about oversight stop him or Rep. Kristi Noem from voting to extend the EB-5 program as is, without any reforms, last December. Tell me again, Mike—who isn’t doing enough oversight?
Blame it on the dead guy. Oops! The dead guy wasn’t the only one on the take. Blame it on the feds. I have heard from Mike Rounds many times about how we need more regulation from Washington DC covering how our state government operates federal programs.
Wait just a damn minute Mike Rounds!
Aren’t the 5 charges against Bollen state charges that have nothing to do with the federal EB-5 program. If I read the charges correctly, Bollen was stealing from the state and not the Feds.
Mike Rounds can no longer blame the dead guy, so now he has to blame the benefactors.
Darn right, Roger. Rounds is trying to distract us from issues that arose at the state level, in the state’s structuring of the program. Jackley’s old excuse that it’s not his place to take action because EB-5 is a federal program is as dead as Benda.
And yes, Darin and Roger, “Benda did it” is also dead.
Christ, is he gonna blame Westerhuis murder/suicides? on the feds,too?
Christ, is he gonna blame Westerhuis murder/suicides? on the feds,too? I always suspicioned the states take these programs and hand them off to cronys to avoid federal oversight.
Mike Rounds, Dakota Con indeed.
This has been a Republican response lately, to claim too much federal government oversight and then claim not enuf oversight when things go wrong. Is MMR responsible for ANYTHING during his tenure? I used to dislike him because I saw him as just a do-nothing pretty face. Now I am starting to really have a distaste for his corruption and apparent lack of responsibility for ANYTHING!
It is difficult to believe that the feds don’t have adequate oversight and restrictions over their funds and programs and that more babysitting rules are needed to stop South Dakota republicans from stealing our tax dollars.
As a rule, people don’t pay attention to rules and laws when committing crimes, they just do it in hopes of not getting caught and in South Dakota republicans very rarely get caught and if they do get caught, nothing is done or they get a mere slap on the wrist and have to stand in the corner.
I see that Bollen’s lawyer is saying that his client is being made a scapegoat and Senator Tidemann is saying the committee hearing he chaired in 2014 was never told about the Indemnification Fund 2. This is the committee that allowed Bollen and Rounds to answer written questions as opposed to testifying under oath.
I suspect we will see a lot of finger pointing and possibly a circular firing squad. The bus may wind up on blocks with all its wheels missing.
I’ve noticed all the ‘pubs are blaming their EB-5 mess on the Feds. Rounds says he ‘assumes’ that federal controls would have been in place. My, that says a lot doesn’t it. What an odd, rather embarrassing statement.
Back at you, Mike. A lot of South Dakotans assumed that you, Governor Rounds would have had STATE controls in place. I thought he was known as the micromanager.
Rounds was governor of the state when the EB5 thing went down, but somehow he either didn’t know anything about it, nothing came to his attention or across his radar about it, or it was all someone else’s fault.
Riiiightt.
Remember, Robin, Rounds himself approved privatizing South Dakota’s EB-5 program, which moved it further away from government oversight:
http://madvilletimes.com/2014/10/rounds-approved-bollen-2009-contract-money-more-important-than-rules/
Mike Rounds is a Republican United States senator. Like all sitting Republican United States senators he blames Obama. The Facebook meme meets real life.
http://cdn.meme.am/instances2/500x/5069931.jpg
I saw Rounds on TV a few ago, I think public TV and he was chastising the corps of Engineers for not knowing how to manage the dam. But I remember when he was gov and the water was low and then it rained for two years and the water came up so he declared that we now know how to manage the dam. Next year it rained again and his house got flooded. Now he says the corps still does not know how to manage the dam and they better figure it out soon. So why did he not have input into it back when it could have saved his own house? He is just all talk.
I also heard him in person talking about common core. He emphatically said that the decisions are made in Pierre, not in Washington or the local school board. But if it does not work right it is somebody elses fault.
I saw Senator Rounds on Focus/PB/TV. I was so, so disappointed. He stated he has for the past 2 years spoken about “Federal Oversight” and how that has to improve. What happened to “state oversight” while he was governor? He danced around the EB-5 question. He said he will support the Republican Nominee– whomever that might be — what ever road that takes us down. He will not consider appointing the Supreme Justice candidate until a new president takes office. He had a “scripted” sheet and was reading off of it and used up the time talking about Native American Healthcare. (not saying this is not important — but it was his way of avoidance –that way; he didn’t have to answer any more tough questions; while on the air. I was so disappointed and frustrated; all at the same time.
looks like the best way to shed light on sd government corruption is to send ex–governors to washington so our humiliation can go national. will the south dakota voters & not voters see the light and start paying attention along with their taxes? the democrats used to bring home the federal money – and now we send the reps there to be exposed for the misuse of it and the state & local funds as well.
Finally! Cory, I shared this on my FB page on Oct 18, 2015, along with a link to your “Feds Say South Dakota Too Corrupt to Use EB-5” post.
“There’s no such thing as good money or bad money. There’s just money.” ~ Lucky Luciano
“Judges, lawyers and politicians have a license to steal. We don’t need one.” ~ Carlo Gambino
“It takes many steppingstones, you know, for a man to rise. None can do it unaided” ~ Joe Bonanno
“This life of ours, this is a wonderful life. If you can get through life like this and get away with it, hey, that’s great. But its very, very unpredictable. There’s so many ways you can screw it up.” ~ Paul Castellano
“What you found out is once the investigation was there you’re not reading about it anymore. You’re not seeing anything about it because what they found out is there is no conspiracy. There was never a time in which I was the object of an investigation either federal or state and now the real truth is starting to come out,” Rounds said. http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm/rounds-on-eb-5-there-is-no-conspiracy/?id=170148
Senator Mike Rounds (R) is a joke. Unfortunately he’s not a funny one. His attempt to distance himself from EB-5 is pathetic. I wonder why did he and Rep. Kristi Noem vote to extend the EB-5 program as is, without any reforms, last December?
Typical case of the foxes guarding the henhouse.
Remember that shell game where loans were taken out for the beef plant from foreign entities and the fees far exceeded the loans themselves, and ultimately the money that was supposed to be used for economic development in SD was shoveled overseas to these entities. I’m convinced that Rounds and his family benefited from these missing millions.
Here’s what investigators should do to track down what was in it for Rounds. Check to see where in the world Mike Rounds and his brother, international businessman Jamie Rounds, have traveled since 2009. Look especially carefully at any location where either one has gone more than once or where they have both gone. That’s probably where they have their offshore money parked. Look at where they have stayed and who they have met with – because they are not dumb enough to buy property in their own names, but probably in the name of some foreign company or LLC that they own. If they have stayed in the same mansion somewhere they probably own it. Look at the laws in any such locations to figure out what kind of legal structure one would likely use there to invest money. If there is a there there, that’s how you find it. My belief is that the overseas money and the management of it likely flows through Jamie Rounds.
South Dakota – The state equivalent of a republican stereotype “welfare queen”. We take your money, don’t pay our fair share, ignore our most vulnerable (our Native Americans and uninsured), massage the rules, utilize shady financial dealings to support our economy (loan sharking), and then blame the government when things don’t work.
Maybe we could lobby the feds to get a nuclear waste dump in the Black Hills, then we could have the car parts in the front yard stereotype covered.
The boy Rounds defense is, “It’s Obama’s fault” is as laughable as boy Rounds blaming the federal government when his house built upon the sand in a floodplain flooded.
The voters keep reaping what they sowed.
I agree with Rounds, it is Obama’s fault. It is Obama’s fault for putting Rounds in charge of the fix. It is Obama’s fault because he appointed such a poor excuse of a US Attorney for South Dakota in the first place. Johnson was really not much more than a storefront for this illegal activity that was clearly known by the Feds. The Feds sent US Marshals to the scene of Benda’s brutal ending to do their jobs and then natta, why is that? I really don’t know when I have ever seen such a waste of taxpayer money for such a clusterf@#k from beginning to end. Johnson has not gotten any blowback on this and that is not puzzling if the Rounds team had something on him that could sink them both, which really would not surprise me. There is a there there, it would certainly seem. I would not want Johnson to represent me in any kind of legal battle that would be more intense than filing a lien.
What the hell is Rounds doing at Dakotacon? Seriously, I am glad I didn’t attend this year. His attendance just lowered the legitimacy of this “con.” He represents nothing that the info-sec community is about.
Mike Rounds has a hatred for the federal government that goes back as far as his days in the legislature…If anyone goes back and reviews his relationship with federal funds, federal programs, federal bureaus or federal employees, you can’t help but conclude that there is very little in the federal government that has escaped his vindictive, irrational and spiteful regard for anything of national origin. This is the first time he’s said anything about federal oversight. It’s a complete, antithetical reversal in his philosophy. He hates federal oversight yet shifts blame when it’s convenient. He’s not dealt well with the realities of the 21st century and his slide will continue.
BIG MIKE
He is wide at the mouth and narrow in his mind
And he always has his head where the sun dont shine……Big Mike
He made it into office. Riddin on a name
He got his moola from the insurance game…..Big Mike
Big Mike, Big Mike, Cardboard Mike, Big Mike
He liked to fly the plane on other peoples dime
He could have gone some other way but couldnt find the time…..Big Mike
It was just a couple years ago the Round boys got their still
They needed help so the laws got changed from the mansion on the hill….. Big Mike
Big Mike, Big Mike, Cardboard Mike, Big Mike
He’s a micromanager you know it sure does show
His legacy was EB5 were did those millions go…..Big Mike
He tried to fight a war with the Mighty Mo
He built a palace down there where the river used to flow…..
Big Mike,Big Mike, Cardboard Mike
Now hes took from education and gave that to his friends, except for one in an old tree grove whoes life came to an end
Now his reward was to be senator to DC they did send……Big Mike
Well he hates queers and mexicans and cant stand womens rights
And if you dont agree with him your asking for a fight
He is one of just few and does as little as he can
But underneath that pile of crap smiles a big big man……Big Mike, Big Mike, Cardboard Mike
The Blindman
You have a way with words,Bill. Now I would love to hear you sing it! Please, pretty please!!
So this Jamie Rounds is an ‘international businessman’? What kinds of international business does he do? Rohr, you could have something there, keep investigating. Cory, anyone – have you heard of this Jamie Rounds flying around the world doing business? The saga deepens.
Jenny, you will never hear me again, but there are three songs that you wii hear in SD in the next couple of years. “The Insane Preacher Blues,” The EB5 Blues,” and “Big Mike.”
Look in the sleasiest bars, political functions, and funerals cause thats the kind of people that do my music.
The Blindman
Sen Mike
If the State is getting Fed money
The State makes sure it is getting ALL
the money ” promised”.
So once the State gets that money does that mean they give up on tracking that money ?
If this is the Fed s. Problem why is Jackley doing the ( finally) prosecution?
Sen Mike is doing a TRUMP, ” oh that’s not my fault. Can’t you see that’s some one else’s fault, not my problem, WHY are they not taking care of it”?
Unfortunately, he can get away with his lack of leadership here in South Dakota. Why? The people have been so brainwashed by the Republican party they can’t think for themselves! They simply look the other way and dismiss this type of corruption on the federal government. Give me a break Mike Rounds you had intimate knowledge about this scandal from day one! The people who elected you should be ashamed and as guilty as you are!
John Derby-I couldn’t agree with you more. Well said
Disingenuous: not straightforward. not candid or frank. insincere.
That’s Mike Rounds blaming the federal government for not catching him and his administration running a state’s EB-5 regional center in a corrupt manner.
Any of the security expert at DakotaCon who buys Mike Rounds’ explanation for the disappearance of $120 million in taxpayer funds and hundreds of millions in investor funds under his watch is unfit too gullible to work in the security industry.
Mike Rounds and the Joopster must be soiling themselves right now.
http://www.keloland.com/news/article/news/trove-of-data-on-offshore-accounts-prompts-probe-questions