Who is responsible for checking the standing of a regional center with the SEC?

You should have a potential investment reviewed by an independent financial professional. If you are specifically concerned with SEC compliance, you may wish to retain your own securities counsel to review the offering documents.

This should be part of the due diligence of every investor. Theoretically, the PPM should list any history of securities related issues and/or disciplinary actions, but it is always best to take it a step further and get such confirmation/clarification in writing.

In terms of checking with the SEC, the SEC does not approve regional centers nor do they have a list of regional centers that are in good standing. The only thing you could determine through your attorney or by going on the appropriate websites of the SEC or otherwise, is whether or not the SEC has instituted any proceedings against a particular regional center.

The investor (if you have an attorney) should verify the standing with the SEC. As a matter of fact, it should be part of the due diligence investigation.

You can certainly look on the "check an investment adviser" section of www.sec.gov, but that will only tell you if a regional center is registered as an investment adviser, which few are. You should have your attorney perform a docket search of state and federal courts, as well as other regulatory bodies, to see if the both firm and/or its principals are the subject of any action. This would be but a part of your due diligence exercise in examining the regional center. You should also check for liens and judgments as well on both the principals and regional center.

This is something you, your attorney, or your financial advisor can help you with. Generally, there will not be much info with the SEC about regional centers though. Only when they get in trouble will there be any public record of the regional center and the SEC.

The SEC does not license regional centers; therefore, it does not post information on the status of them. On the other hand, regional centers are licensed by USCIS, and USCIS does maintain a list of regional centers on its website that are current in their registrations. The investor and his or her immigration attorney should verify whether the regional center associated with the investment opportunity is in good standing with USCIS. Knowing that information is fundamental to the investor's ability to rely on indirect job creation as a basis for the investor's I-526 and I-829 petitions.

It is important for the investor to understand that they bear responsibility as it is their investment. With that said, I recommend you consider a project that has been carefully reviewed by a broker dealer that can provide you with independent due diligence.

It up to the EB-5 investor to do proper/thorough due diligence regarding the investment, which includes the vetting of regional centers. You should work with an experienced immigration attorney familiar with the EB-5 process who should have a checklist of conducting regional center due diligence to determine the legitimacy/good standing.

I am not sure there is a procedure to check if a regional center is in good standing with the SEC. If there are problems, this should presumably be reported in the PPM.