As updated yesterday in this South Dakota newspaper, based on:
a packet of documents distributed by the South Dakota Democratic Party on Monday as part of an effort to link the controversial EB-5 program with Republican candidates, including former Gov. Mike Rounds.
Almost two years before generally the understood start of this scandal, when
then-Gov. Mike Rounds approved a contract between the state and SDRC Inc. to fully administer South Dakota's EB-5 program
..."apparent" self-dealing, which was "little known" began when
the [state] agency's director, Joop Bollen, signed a contract with a private firm to help manage the investment program.
What Bollen didn't disclose in the contract was that he owned that private firm, SDRC Inc. Bollen, a public employee as director of the South Dakota International Business Institute, had founded SDRC Inc. five days before signing the deal.
Bollen's agency and Bollen's company would work closely together – the company collecting millions of dollars in fees from investors in that time – for two more years before he left state employment.
By the way, how likely is Mike Rounds to be familiar with the concept of 'conflicts of interest' from his role as
president and CEO of ... an insurance and real estate agency
Democratic Senate nominee Rick Weiland, who has visited all the state's 311 towns and then started doing it again, and has produced an impressive
campaign video library here, on a shoe-string budget, is going to have some great material to work with during the home stretch.