Sen. Cornyn Family Visa Profiteering Exposed. How his EB-5 Push Fuels Texas Fraud While Enriching His Daughter Public records reveal a clear family-money-politics loop with Sen. John Cornyn. Cornyn has aggressively defended the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program, despite repeated fraud scandals in Texas. All while his daughter Haley Cornyn works as the Legislative Affairs Manager at Greenberg Traurig and lobbies clients who benefit from the programs he protects. The firm itself has structured billions in EB-5 deals and sends PAC money back to Cornyn. Over the years, Cornyn has called EB-5 a “major economic driver for Texas,” co-sponsored reauthorization bills, and in April 2025 stated he was working to keep the program intact “added on top” of any new high-investment visa options. This as Texas has seen multiple major EB-5 scams. • America Modern Green (Houston): Raised $49.5 million from 90 Chinese investors, misused $20.5 million on unrelated projects, leading to SEC fraud charges and a settlement. • USA Now Regional Center (McAllen): Fraudulently raised at least $5 million, diverting funds into a Ponzi scheme, personal debts, luxury cars, and a restaurant. Investors lost everything and never received visas. • Additional Texas-linked cases include a $52 million EB-5 fraud scheme involving Danhong “Jean” Chen, who was sentenced to 30 months in prison in January 2026 after years of investigation and extradition. These cases highlight fraud, fund misuse, and risks Cornyn’s continued support overlooks. Haley Cornyn at Greenberg Traurig Haley Cornyn (Texas lobbyist ID 65594) currently serves as Legislative Affairs Manager in Texas Government Law and Policy at Greenberg Traurig’s Austin office. Her registration address matches the firm’s Austin location exactly. According to Texas Ethics Commission disclosures aggregated on Transparency USA, she has reported a cumulative maximum compensation of $871,260 across all clients since she began registering. Her active 2025–2026 clients include high-profile entities such as. • Citigroup Washington Inc. (dba Citigroup Government Affairs Inc.): $0–$22,239.99 • Alibaba Group Holding LTD: $0–$22,239.99 (Thanks to @AmyMek for this data) Other notable clients on her roster. • Healthcare: Fresenius Medical Care, Texas Scottish Rite Hospital • Technology: LEO Technologies, Asurion, DailyPay • Finance: Aflac, Beyond Finance • Multiple Texas cities including Dallas, Plano, Missouri City, and Port Arthur. Citigroup Connection: Citigroup, which actively finances EB-5 bridge loans and project funding, increased its H-1B visa petitions by nearly 20% year-over-year into FY2026. This surge stands in stark contrast to declines at peer institutions like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase amid tighter immigration scrutiny and higher compliance costs. Greenberg Traurig’s EB-5 Windfall The firm where Haley Cornyn currently works aggressively brands itself as a “go-to industry leader” in the EB-5 space. Greenberg Traurig’s Global Immigration & Compliance Practice has structured $12 billion+ in EB-5 capital deployments across hundreds of projects. One GT shareholder alone, Jennifer Hermansky, has personally overseen more than $3 billion in EB-5 capital raises and has guided thousands of investor families through the process. The firm has filed and handled 8,000+ I-526 immigrant investor petitions. GT maintains an active public promotion machine, including its EB-5 Insights blog and the popular “Immigration Insights” podcast series. In February 2026, the firm released “Top 26 EB-5 Insights for 2026,” with episodes hosted by co-chairs Kate Kalmykov and Jennifer Hermansky. These materials heavily promote grandfathering strategies to lock in the current $800,000 Targeted Employment Area investment threshold before the Reform and Integrity Act (RIA) grandfathering protections expire on September 30, 2026. They also advise on source-of-funds documentation, avoiding delays, and navigating anticipated fee hikes and regulatory changes. PAC Money Flows Back to Cornyn • Texas GT PAC: $6,700 to Cornyn (listed among top recipients). • Federal GT PAC (C00266585): $5,000 to Cornyn’s Alamo PAC in the 2023–2024 cycle. The pattern is unmistakable. Cornyn preserves the visa programs → his daughter at Greenberg Traurig lobbies direct beneficiaries → the firm pockets billions structuring deals → the firm’s PAC and clients rewards Cornyn with contributions. All activity is disclosed and legal under current rules. Yet the numbers paint a troubling picture of family enrichment tied to policies that have enabled fraud in Texas while benefiting connected corporate interests. Primary sources: Texas Ethics Commission/Transparency USA, FEC/OpenSecrets, SEC enforcement actions, DOL H-1B data, and Greenberg Traurig’s own EB-5 materials. I want to thank @AmyMek and an article I stumbled upon at The Dallas Express(dallasexpress.com). Her reporting on this had me running down this part of the Cornyn Visa corruption rabbit hole. Some data was used from her article/posts. @ScottPresler @KenPaxtonTX @CyberGreen09 @DrReclaimerTX
