Mirror Lake Vill. v. Nielson

345 F. Supp. 3d 56
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedDecember 14, 2018
DocketCivil Action No. 16-1955 (TFH)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 345 F. Supp. 3d 56 (Mirror Lake Vill. v. Nielson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mirror Lake Vill. v. Nielson, 345 F. Supp. 3d 56 (D.C. Cir. 2018).

Opinion

II. Factual Background

a. The Investments in Mirror Lake

According to Mirror Lake's Limited Liability Company Operating Agreement (hereinafter "the Agreement"), which outlines the terms of the plaintiffs' investments in the company, the seven plaintiff-investors-Yanxue Deng, Hui Ge, Lei Hu, Ge Li, Zhichun Li, Ying Su, and Yue Wang, each invested $500,000 in Mirror Lake. J.A. at 18. Despite their equal investments, they received different percentages of interests in the company, ranging from .5% to 3%. Id. The investors each have the right to exercise a put option allowing them to force the company to buy back their interests at the purchase price. The Agreement sets forth the put option as follows:

At the expiration of the At Risk Period1 applicable to a Class A Member, the Company shall provide the Class A Member with a one-time right and option to compel the Company to purchase, subject to the Company having sufficient Available Cash Flow (excluding capital contributed by Members), all or any portion of such Class A Member's Interest at the purchase price thereof (e.g., the Capital Contribution made in respect of such Interest).

J.A. at 12. The Agreement defines "Available Cash Flow" as "the total cash available to the Company from all sources less the Company's total cash uses before payment of debt service." Id. at 5.

Alongside the Agreement, Mirror Lake's Confidential Offering Memorandum repeats the details of the put option and emphasizes the risks associated with the investment, including the risk that the company does not acquire sufficient financing and the risk that the plaintiff-investors do not receive equity in proportion to their investments. Id. at 24. The Offering Memorandum also states that "[t]here can be no guarantee of the return of invested capital to any EB-5 Member." Id.

b. The I-526 Petitions and Denials

The plaintiff-investors filed I-526 petitions in October and November of 2014. Compl. ¶ 79. USCIS issued Notices of Intent to Deny ("NOIDs") each petition in December of 2015. Id. ¶ 81. The plaintiffs responded to the NOIDs in January of 2016, id. ¶ 86, and USCIS denied all seven of the petitions in February of 2016, id. ¶¶ 91. The plaintiff-investors then filed "Motions to Reopen and Reconsider a Denied Form I-526" in March of 2016. Id. ¶ 98. USCIS denied six of the motions in May and June of 2016. Id. ¶ 104. Because the parties have asserted that the petitions and denials were virtually identical, and have only filed the record associated with the adjudication of Lei Hu's petition, the *61Court treats that record as representative of the other adjudications. Defs.' Mot. for Summ. J. at 5 [ECF No. 18]; Pls.' Mot. for Summ. J. at 4-11 [ECF No. 21].2

In its Notice of Intent to Deny plaintiff Lei Hu's petition, USCIS concluded that the record did "not demonstrate that the petitioner has placed the required amount of capital at risk for the purpose of generating a return on the investment." J.A. at 54. Citing Matter of Izummi , USCIS noted that "[f]or the alien's money truly to be at risk, the alien cannot enter into a partnership knowing that he already has a willing buyer in a certain number of years, nor can he be assured that he will receive a certain price." Id. at 55. UCSIS did not mention the Agreement's condition that the company have available cash flow in order for the plaintiff-investors to exercise their put option.

In her response to the agency's NOID, Lei Hu pointed to the Agreement and the Offering Memorandum and emphasized that the "right of investors to exercise the Put Option ... is expressly contingent upon the availability of cash flow." J.A. at 59 (emphasis in original). She also emphasized that she exchanged capital for a 2% ownership interest in the company-the "hallmark of an equity investment, not of debt." Id. at 64.

In its February 2016 denial of Lei Hu's petition, USCIS characterized the plaintiff-investors' position that the put option is contingent upon available cash flow as "arguing that her capital is at risk only insofar as [Mirror Lake] is not profitable," and noted that, if Mirror Lake is "profitable and ha[s] sufficient cash flow, the Put Option was clearly written as an exit strategy for the investor to compel [Mirror Lake] to purchase the member's interest." Id. at 70. USCIS concluded that, because the petitioner's investment was made in exchange for a redemption agreement, it was not "invested" and was not "at risk." Id.

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345 F. Supp. 3d 56, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mirror-lake-vill-v-nielson-cadc-2018.