A Finra hearing panel has barred a former Ameriprise rep for failing to disclose an outside business that raised $100 million from foreign investors through a controversial U.S. visa program.

The May 30 hearing panel decision, just released by Finra, found that Jim Seol, an Irvine, Calif.-based rep with Ameriprise from 1997 until May 2014, deliberately hid from Ameriprise examiners a business he formed in 2011 called Western Regional Center Inc. (WRCI), which raised funds from foreign investors through the U.S. government’s EB-5 visa program. The controversial EB-5 program permits foreign investors to obtain U.S. residency in exchange for investing in projects that create U.S. jobs.

By the end of 2013, Seol had raised $100 million from Chinese and Korean investors for a solar energy plant in Riverside, Calif. Ameriprise learned of Seol’s business only after the SEC and Finra began investigating WRCI in March 2014. The SEC has not taken any action, the decision says.

“Seol intentionally concealed his WRCI activities … by repeatedly lying to his supervisor and the compliance examiner,” the decision says.

In the hearing, Seol claimed he didn’t understand that the limited partnership interests he sold for the power plant were securities and argued that he didn’t earn money from the deal and did not solicit Ameriprise clients.

“We find it less likely that Seol’s nondisclosure stemmed from some misunderstanding of his obligations than from his desire to conceal his ongoing, substantial and soon-to-be lucrative business from Ameriprise, lest his employer require him to cease his activities,” the hearing panel said.

In an emailed statement, Seol said he and his attorney “strongly disagree” with the decision and plan to appeal to Finra’s National Adjudicatory Council.

“I believe the panel ignored certain key facts in the record and failed to consider numerous established mitigating factors,” Seol said.

“The panel … also acknowledged that there was no harm to any investors, and that the issues solely related to disclosure requirements which had no connection to my current company or any subsequent business transactions,” he said.

While no investors were apparently harmed, “the absence of customer harm is not mitigating,” the panel’s decision said.

The EB-5 program program has been in the spotlight recently after media outlets reported last month that the sister of Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and advisor, was pitching Chinese investors to finance a New Jersey apartment complex, called Trump Bay Street, which is owned by the Kushner family business.