FBI continues probe into Chinese investors
By Phil Riske | Senior Reporter/Writer
The parent company of PhoenixMart, AZSourcing, has revealed plans to develop a former outlet mall south of Casa Grande.
AZSourcing Chief Operating Officer Marshall Stahl told Phoenix Business Journal he hopes to bring furniture makers and retailers, home furnishing companies and national brand names to the 189,000-square-foot outlet mall by February 2017.
The Businiess Journal says AZSourcing bought the Tanger Factory Outlet Centers mall in 2011, where PhoenixMart has a welcome center.
AZSourcing is behind the PhoenixMart 1.7 million-square-foot international trade and exposition center , which is three years behind schedule and creating problems for Chinese investors who used EB-5 financing to fund the project.
There is a set time period in which the development must occur, and allegations PhoenixMart has failed to meet those timelines led to reports that some investors were facing deportation, the newspaper reported
An FBI raid last year at the AZSourcing and PhoenixMart headquarters in northeast Phoenix resulted in employees being locked out for more than a day and seizure of computer equipment.
The FBI says its investigation is still in progress.
