A motion filed in court on behalf of former Jay Peak Resort owner Ariel Quiros seeking to reduce his prison sentence in the largest fraud case in Vermont history was “unauthorized” and was made by a “misguided person,” his attorney said Monday.
The five-page motion, filed in U.S. District Court in Vermont on Feb. 8, included the purported signature of Quiros, who is lodged at a minimum-security federal prison camp in Florida as he serves a five-year sentence for his role in the fraud. Marked as having been filed “pro se,” meaning on one’s own behalf, it asked Judge Geoffrey Crawford to consider the “physical and psychological toll” of incarceration in his bid to shorten his sentence.
However, late last week Crawford wrote in an order that he “learned” that neither Quiros nor his attorney “authorized” the filing. As a result, the judge wrote, he would take no action on it.
Neil Taylor, a Florida attorney who has represented Quiros for several years, reiterated in an email to VTDigger that the motion’s filing was “unauthorized.”
He added, “It was done following a discussion by some misguided person who thought they were doing Mr. Quiros a favor. That’s all there is to it and, once I found out about it, I notified the Government, Probation, and the Court.”
Asked if Quiros submitted the motion with the court or someone else did, Taylor replied, “Someone else, and I have formally sent him notice to stop.”
Taylor would not name the person or say whether his client’s signature was forged on the document.
Taylor said he planned to file a motion on Quiros’ behalf seeking a sentence reduction stemming from a recent change in federal sentencing. That change applies to offenders with no prior criminal history who were sentenced for nonviolent offenses, which is the case for Quiros.
The judge last year turned down an initial bid by Quiros to reduce his prison sentence. Quiros contended in that request that Crawford had not given enough consideration to his cooperation with prosecutors.
Quiros and two other men were indicted in May 2019 for their roles in a project to construct a biomedical research facility in Newport, known as AnC Bio Vermont.
The developers raised more than $80 million from foreign investors who put up at least $500,000 each seeking permanent U.S. residency through the federal EB-5 visa program aimed at promoting job creation in underdeveloped and rural areas.
