CEO and President of EB-5 middleman USIF: $1.85M in federal political contributions since 2021, mainly to Trump & Republicans. Also: two Brooklyn Democrats.

As I wrote yesterday (link), not just real estate developers are interested in the extension of the EB-5 investor visa, which helps fund real estate developments with cheap capital, rather than its possible replacement by Donald Trump's $5 million "Gold Card" plan.

Others in the EB-5 gravy train include immigration lawyers and, especially, operators of "regional centers," the businesses that recruit the investors, form investment pools for their money, and then lend that money to real estate developers at a below-market interest rates. The managers keep most (if not all) of the interest, and also earn fees.

The leader in that business line is the U.S. Immigration Fund (USIF), the Florida-based firm that--despite a dubious history--somehow controls the fate of most of the remaining Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project. 

Fortune, Oct. 2014

The USIF manages the two loans--originally $349 million, with $286 million remaining--that developer Greenland failed to pay off, and thus controls the process of getting a new joint venture partner to develop six sites over the Vanderbilt Yard.

(They're not the "lender," though they control it.)

However, as I wrote, it didn't put the money up, so it doesn't have much urgency to act--at least if Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, chooses not to consider it liable for the $2,000/month penalties for the 876 undelivered affordable housing units due by the end of May.

Political contributions

Rest assured, the USIF has friends in Washington. My review of federal contributions by Nicholas Mastroianni II, the USIF founder and CEO, and Nicholas Mastroianni III, the USIF President, shows nearly $1.85 million in campaign contributions since 2021, mostly but not exclusively to Republicans. (Also see bottom.)

The largest contributions, as shown in the screenshot below, were $250,000 to Trump's campaign, $123,900 to the Republican National Committee, and $100,000 to funds boosting Trump and five Republican Senate/House political action committees.

Federal Election Commission

Note that the younger Mastroianni gave $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee in 2017. The full documentation on Trump's 2025 inaugural committee hasn't been released, but I would be surprised to see a Mastroianni on the list.

Helping Brooklyn Democrats

Remarkably, the two men since 2021 have made six contributions, totaling $17,900, supporting Brooklyn's Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic Caucus Chair and then Democratic Leader in the House of Representatives.

Is that to protect EB-5 projects in Brooklyn? Maybe, but more likely to keep lines of communication open regarding EB-5 policies at large.

Oddly, the younger Mastroianni last November gave $2,100 to Brooklyn Democrat Yvette Clarke. While her district once included Atlantic Yards, since 2022 the project site has been in the recently drawn 10th District, now represented by Rep. Dan Goldman. 

I don't think there are any EB-5 projects in her district. Still, it can't hurt, can it? They've got the bucks.