EB-5 Expert Witness and Litigation Consulting: Samuel B. Silverman

EB-5 Expert Witness and Litigation Consulting: Samuel B. Silverman

Sam Silverman is an EB-5 program expert witness who provides analysis and reports, litigation consulting, and testimony for deposition, arbitration, and trial. He has worked for various parties—from investors to lenders—serving as an expert witness for plaintiffs and claimants as well as defendants.
Sam is the founder and managing partner of EB5AN, a national EB-5 regional center operator, investment fund manager, and consulting firm. Since founding EB5AN in 2013, he has gained extensive experience in structuring, operating, financing, marketing, and managing EB-5 projects and investment funds.
EB5AN owns and operates 15 regional centers and has worked on more than 200 EB-5 transactions across the United States. More than 3,000 investor families from over 70 countries have selected projects sponsored by EB5AN regional centers.
As a licensed attorney who structures and manages EB-5 funds, Sam is well positioned to assist your legal team in EB-5-related litigation.

Download Sam’s EB-5 Expert Witness Brochure

A Leading EB-5 Executive, Attorney, and Expert Witness

Sam understands both the legal framework of the EB-5 program and how EB-5 transactions are structured and managed in practice.

His work has included direct and regional center EB-5 projects structured as both debt and equity investments. He has a track record of success managing new commercial enterprises, handling investor relations and marketing, conducting project due diligence, performing job creation analysis, and dealing with more complex EB-5 issues such as capital redeployment.

Sam’s broad operating experience allows him to evaluate whether the conduct at issue in a dispute is consistent with EB-5 industry practices. Through frequent interactions with EB-5 investors and others in the industry via live webinars and in-person events, Sam has a demonstrated ability to explain complicated EB-5 structures and terminology in language that judges, arbitrators, attorneys, and juries can understand.

Samuel B. Silverman’s Professional Background

Sam founded EB5AN in 2013. In addition to more than a decade of experience in the EB-5 program, he has nearly 20 years of experience in real estate development, project finance, fund management, and business consulting.

He earned a B.A. in Economics from Yale University and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Sam also holds a Certificate in Financial Accounting from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Before founding EB5AN, Sam worked as a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group. He advised Fortune 500 companies in industries that included real estate, technology, hospitality, food service, media, and manufacturing.

He later served as director of corporate strategy for professional golfer Jack Nicklaus. In that role, he lived in Beijing and worked with multinational real estate developers on projects throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Sam’s education, background in finance, consulting experience, and direct responsibility for managing EB-5 funds allow him to address disputes that cross several professional disciplines.

Experience With Plaintiffs, Claimants, and Defendants

Sam has been retained as an EB-5 program expert witness in court litigation and private arbitration. He has prepared expert declarations and reports, participated in discovery, testified in depositions, and appeared as an expert witness at trial.

His experience includes successful engagements on both sides of EB-5 disputes—on behalf of plaintiffs or claimants as well as defendants. He knows how to review a case from more than one perspective and to anticipate arguments that are likely to be raised by the opposing party’s counsel and experts.

Select engagements in which Sam served as an EB-5 expert witness are summarized below.

Engagements Involving Both Litigation and Arbitration

Successful Litigation for DVRC: Sam’s Client Prevailed and Was Awarded More Than $2.36 Million in Damages

Sam served as an EB-5 expert witness for a plaintiff in a complex dispute over the ownership and management of Delaware Valley Regional Center, LLC, commonly referred to as DVRC.

The case was Bamford v. Penfold, L.P., C.A. No. 2019-0005-JTL (Del. Ch. June 24, 2022), in the Delaware Court of Chancery.

The litigation concerned allegations that the individual controlling DVRC had caused the company to pay excessive management fees, compensation, and other expenses. Sam prepared an expert report, testified in a deposition, and testified at trial regarding EB-5 industry practices and the operation and expenses of comparable EB-5 businesses.

Following trial, the court found that the controlling individual had breached his fiduciary duty to DVRC. The court awarded Sam’s client $2,365,809.22, together with pre- and post-judgment interest. The award included damages for excess management fees, compensation, and improper expenses (courts.delaware.gov).

The DVRC case demonstrates Sam’s ability to analyze the financial and operational practices of a large regional center business, defend his opinions under examination, and explain specialized EB-5 issues at trial.

Claimant-Side Arbitration

Sam also served as an expert for the claimant in an EB-5 arbitration.

The dispute involved an EB-5 investment in a real estate development project and questions about whether the investment materials accurately reflected the project’s financing structure and financial risk.

Sam analyzed substantial changes to the project’s senior construction financing and EB-5 capital raise. He evaluated whether those changes should have been disclosed to investors and whether the private placement memorandum continued to provide an accurate description of the investment.

Sam prepared a detailed expert declaration based on the offering documents, financing information, partnership agreements, project records, and other evidence supplied by counsel.

The matter ended in a favorable settlement for Sam’s client.

This engagement shows Sam’s ability to examine both the immigration and financial consequences of fund-management decisions. It also reflects his experience presenting expert opinions in arbitration, where the procedures and presentation of evidence differ from those of a public court trial.

Defense-Side Litigation Involving a Regional Bank

Sam was retained by defense counsel in separate litigation involving a regional bank that had provided senior construction financing to a real estate project funded in part with EB-5 capital.

The case required analysis of the EB-5 program as it operated when the original transaction was structured. Sam advised counsel on the respective roles of the regional center, the EB-5 fund, the project entity, and the senior lender.

His work included the following:

• Explaining the relationship between the EB-5 investment and the senior construction loan
• Evaluating lien priority and the subordination of EB-5 capital
• Reviewing the project’s private placement memorandum
• Assessing customary practices for senior lenders reviewing EB-5 offering materials
• Comparing the investment risk described in the offering documents with the project’s later financing structure
• Identifying EB-5 issues for discovery and further investigation

Once again, the matter ended in a favorable settlement for Sam’s client.

This engagement demonstrates Sam’s ability to work effectively with defense counsel and analyze a case from the perspective of a senior lender rather than that of an EB-5 investor or fund.

Subjects Sam Can Address as an EB-5 Program Expert Witness

Sam can provide expert analysis and testimony concerning a wide range of EB-5 issues, which include the following:

• Regional center, new commercial enterprise (NCE), job-creating entity (JCE), and fund-manager responsibilities
• Direct and regional center EB-5 structures
• Private placement memorandums and other offering documents
• Material disclosures, omissions, and changes in project risk
• EB-5 fund governance and fiduciary duties
• Management fees, compensation, expenses, and industry practices
• Senior financing, capital stacks, lien priority, and subordination
• Debt and equity EB-5 investments
• Investor reporting, distributions, redemptions, and repayment
• Job creation requirements and supporting evidence
• Capital deployment and redeployment
• Project marketing and investor solicitation practices
• EB-5 project due diligence and risk evaluation
• Historical EB-5 rules and industry practices

EB-5 Expert Witness Inquiries

Sam works with counsel for investors, regional centers, fund managers, and senior lenders—on behalf of plaintiffs, claimants, and defendants alike. Attorneys and parties seeking an EB-5 expert witness or litigation consultant can contact Samuel B. Silverman directly to discuss the matter and his availability.

Email: Sam.Silverman@EB5AN.com