[A]riel Quiros, who has been accused of perpetrating a Ponzi-like scheme in the Northeast Kingdom, was a major donor to the Vermont Democratic Party and Vermont politicians. Bill Stenger, his partner in the Jay Peak projects, was also a major donor.
From 2011 to 2014, Stenger and Quiros, through his companies, relatives and affiliates, gave $71,900 to Vermont Democrats.
Through direct donations and gifts through GSI of Dade County and his wife, Quiros gave $28,000 to the Vermont Democratic Party over the same period. George Gulisano, the chief financial officer for Jay Peak, gave $10,000 in 2014.
Ariel Quiros, his wife, son, an affiliate and six of his companies gave $18,000 to Gov. Peter Shumlin from 2011-2014. Bill Stenger and his wife, Mary Jane, donated $6,000 to Shumlin from 2011-2014. Gulisano and his wife, Carmen gave the governor $2,000 in the 2013-2014 election cycle.
The figures come from a campaign finance database compiled from VTDigger and from the Institute for Money in State Politics.
In addition, Stenger gave a total of $8,500 from 1998 to 2013 to Sen. Patrick Leahy ($5,000), Rep. Peter Welch ($1,500), and the Vermont Republican Federal Elections Committee ($2,000). Leahy said at a press conference on Friday he would donate the contributions to nonprofits in the Northeast Kingdom.
Federal regulators allege that Quiros and Stenger have misused $200 million in immigrant investor funds. The SEC filed a lawsuit against both men in Miami federal court on Tuesday and the filing was unsealed on Thursday.
Shumlin took credit for state reforms to the EB-5 program in Vermont and said a state investigation helped to uncover the fraud at a press conference Thursday. He told reporters he wasn’t influenced by campaign contributions from Quiros and Stenger.
“I think it’s a testament to the fact that campaign contributions don’t make a difference that I set up a structure that found this out and brought us to where we are today,” Shumlin said at a press conference on Thursday in which state officials detailed how the fraud was perpetrated by Quiros and Stenger.
Shumlin is leaving office at the end of this year.
Two candidates for governor, a Republican and a Democrat, have criticized Shumlin for taking donations from Quiros and Stenger.
Bruce Lisman, a Republican who is challenging Lt. Gov. Phil Scott in the primary, said in a statement that “corruption doesn’t belong in Vermont. Lisman called on Shumlin and all Vermont politicians who received campaign contributions from Stenger and Quiros and their companies to return the money to the court-appointed receiver.
“The public trust between the people of our state and politicians leading our state has long been broken. It’s time to address these issues head on,” Lisman said.
Peter Galbraith, one of three Democrats running for governor, called for a ban on corporate campaign contributions.
“It turns out that Ariel Quiros and Willliam Stenger have given tens of thousands of dollars to Vermont political campaigns, mostly through the corporate entities that they control,” Galbraith said. “This has enabled these two alleged fraudsters to circumvent limits on individual campaign contributions. I am saddened that so much of this largess has gone to my own party.
“For too long, Vermont State government acted as cheerleaders for projects that ought to have raised red flags. Shumlin has said that these corporate campaign contributions made no difference to the state’s oversight but Vermonters understandably are skeptical.”
Correction: An earlier version of the story listed a contribution to Democracy for America. Howard Dean left Democracy for America in 2005. Also, the total Stenger gave from 1998 to 2013 to Sen. Patrick Leahy ($5,000), Rep. Peter Welch ($1,500), and the Vermont Republican Federal Elections Committee ($2,000) has been corrected.
