Three foreign investors have filed a lawsuit against Miami-based project developer Andrew B. Dover and several affiliated entities, alleging they were sold unregistered securities under the EB-5 visa program and have not recovered more than $1.5 million in invested funds. The complaint, lodged on June 25, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, targets Dover, Odlum-branded companies, and Appalachian EB-5, LLC. The allegations remain unproven.
The EB-5 program allows foreign nationals to obtain U.S. residency by investing in American businesses that create jobs. According to the filing, the plaintiffs wired $540,000, $530,000, and $540,000 respectively—totaling over $1.5 million—toward a North Carolina equestrian project. The complaint asserts that the funds were deposited into accounts controlled by Dover through a network of LLCs and that he subsequently “treated the funds as his own, without accounting for them or any intention to return them to their owners.”
The plaintiffs characterize the alleged misconduct as a “securities fraud scheme” that leveraged the EB-5 program to attract investors. The complaint stops short of labeling the arrangement a Ponzi scheme. For compliance professionals, the alleged failures are fundamental: a single Form D filed with the SEC in December 2017 for a $192.5 million offering, which the plaintiffs claim was marketed to the public via open websites, thereby voiding the private-offering exemption. They further allege that a subsequent 2019 offering required a new Form D that, according to SEC database searches, was never filed.
The lawsuit also accuses Dover of acting as an unregistered broker-dealer and investment adviser. FINRA’s database reportedly shows no broker license for Dover. The complaint brings counts under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the Securities Exchange Act, seeking to void the contracts. This case echoes other recent SEC actions against unregistered sellers, such as the SEC charges against an unregistered seller in a $10M promissory note scheme via radio show.
Disclosure failures are another central theme. The plaintiffs allege Dover never disclosed a 2002 bankruptcy or a 2015 lawsuit from American Express over approximately $133,550 in credit card debt tied to one of his entities. Had they known of these issues, the investors claim they “would have turned down Dover’s proposals.”
The complaint highlights a webinar held on May 28, 2026, during which a project developer allegedly told investors he controlled the money but would not commit to a repayment schedule. The presentation reportedly included conflicting figures—$207 million attributed to Dover and $165 million to the developer—creating what the filing calls “an unaccounted gap of $42 million.” The complaint notes these numbers were “cited as heard, which may not be accurate.” That developer is named as a defendant on some counts but not on the central securities-fraud count.
For financial advisors and compliance officers, the case underscores the importance of routine regulatory obligations: filing proper notices, registering where required, and fully disclosing personal and business history. This complaint serves as a roadmap of the arguments plaintiffs make when they allege those duties were ignored. Similar issues have arisen in other cases, such as the SEC suit against a Texas family office for unlicensed sale of $40M in promissory notes.
