The database mapped contractors and financial ties behind ICE detention and deportation. Organizers used it to pressure ICE-linked companies before it appeared in federal intelligence reporting.
Laura is a hero! Thank you for telling her story! She is also a member of the Coalition for Values-Based Investment with me, and we hope all y'all will join our nationwide divestment movement. Find out more here:
I gotta' say that ever since ICE started targeting construction sites, it made me think about Trump's exposure to Fear City, the Concrete Club and how Construction groups faced harassment. The number of foreign born workers in construction makes that kind of harassment and site disruption pretty open for extortion. Especially if you control the FBI.
The Failed Developer Behind ICE’s Billion-Dollar #Prison deals.
🔥 Last summer, business was looking bad for hotshot #Boston #developer #JamesGrossmann.
His flashy new #construction company, #RiseConstructionManagement, had begun to spiral into financial ruin. 🔥
That June, a bank sued Grossmann when he failed to repay a $25 million loan — just one of a mounting number of #lawsuits he and his firm were facing from frustrated #creditors.
Amid allegations of unpaid invoices, #fraud, and evidence #tampering, Rise laid off more than half its staff and watched its ambitious development projects collapse.
It was a cautionary tale for the city’s flagging #commercial #realestate industry, Grossmann told local press.
But as Grossmann’s company fielded more than a dozen lawsuits and he tried to salvage his reputation, his name began to appear in connection with far more lucrative dealings: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (#ICE)’s massive spending spree on real estate for “#mega” #detentioncenters.
🛑 Earlier this month, the Department of #HomelandSecurity purchased two prisons from #CoreCivic, one of the world’s biggest #private #prison companies and a longtime ICE detention contractor.
The deal was massive: The government bought the two facilities for $1.5 billion. 🛑
In a public notice to its investors, CoreCivic disclosed the name of the agent working with the Department of Homeland Security to close the deal: #JamesGrossmann of #SK2, LLC.
It wasn’t the first time Grossmann’s name had surfaced in connection with the Department of Homeland Security’s real estate dealings. As grassroots research group #ProjectSaltBox reported this spring, the developer played a role in at least two of ICE’s purchases of massive warehouses, which, under former Homeland Security #KristiNoem, the agency planned to retrofit into detention centers.
🛑The Lever reviewed court documents, federal contracting records, and business filings to piece together how a Boston developer went from financial peril to playing a central role in billion-dollar deals for the Department of Homeland Security.
The end result is a striking glimpse into the opaque contracts and enormous windfalls that are buttressing ICE’s buildout of its detention apparatus and the 🛑shadowy operators who are using President #DonaldTrump’s immigration crackdown to build — or rebuild — their reputations.
As The Lever revealed this spring, the Department of Homeland Security’s strategy to buy up detention infrastructure could help it evade state and local oversight.
🛑 But there has also been speculation that ICE’s warehouse deals — which have cost another $1 billion-plus in #taxpayer funds — were designed to shore up a *struggling commercial real estate industry.
As More Perfect Union reported, the Department of Homeland Security bought the warehouses in some cases ❌at double-digit premiums, even as demand for large warehouse property dwindled.
Politically connected real estate brokers, meanwhile, got their own ❌cut of the deals.
Reached by phone and asked about his connection to ICE’s prison deals, Grossmann said that he worked “on real estate” and conducted environmental site assessments. Although he did not dispute that his name appeared in connection with SK2, he said, “I don’t have a contract working with them.”
Grossmann did not respond to The Lever’s additional inquiries. SK2 also did not reply to a request for comment.
Laura is a hero! Thank you for telling her story! She is also a member of the Coalition for Values-Based Investment with me, and we hope all y'all will join our nationwide divestment movement. Find out more here:
https://sarahtowle.substack.com/p/divest-from-for-profit-prisons-a?r=464pd&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
I gotta' say that ever since ICE started targeting construction sites, it made me think about Trump's exposure to Fear City, the Concrete Club and how Construction groups faced harassment. The number of foreign born workers in construction makes that kind of harassment and site disruption pretty open for extortion. Especially if you control the FBI.
THE BIG SCAM BY TRUMP
The Failed Developer Behind ICE’s Billion-Dollar #Prison deals.
🔥 Last summer, business was looking bad for hotshot #Boston #developer #JamesGrossmann.
His flashy new #construction company, #RiseConstructionManagement, had begun to spiral into financial ruin. 🔥
That June, a bank sued Grossmann when he failed to repay a $25 million loan — just one of a mounting number of #lawsuits he and his firm were facing from frustrated #creditors.
Amid allegations of unpaid invoices, #fraud, and evidence #tampering, Rise laid off more than half its staff and watched its ambitious development projects collapse.
It was a cautionary tale for the city’s flagging #commercial #realestate industry, Grossmann told local press.
But as Grossmann’s company fielded more than a dozen lawsuits and he tried to salvage his reputation, his name began to appear in connection with far more lucrative dealings: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (#ICE)’s massive spending spree on real estate for “#mega” #detentioncenters.
🛑 Earlier this month, the Department of #HomelandSecurity purchased two prisons from #CoreCivic, one of the world’s biggest #private #prison companies and a longtime ICE detention contractor.
The deal was massive: The government bought the two facilities for $1.5 billion. 🛑
In a public notice to its investors, CoreCivic disclosed the name of the agent working with the Department of Homeland Security to close the deal: #JamesGrossmann of #SK2, LLC.
It wasn’t the first time Grossmann’s name had surfaced in connection with the Department of Homeland Security’s real estate dealings. As grassroots research group #ProjectSaltBox reported this spring, the developer played a role in at least two of ICE’s purchases of massive warehouses, which, under former Homeland Security #KristiNoem, the agency planned to retrofit into detention centers.
🛑The Lever reviewed court documents, federal contracting records, and business filings to piece together how a Boston developer went from financial peril to playing a central role in billion-dollar deals for the Department of Homeland Security.
The end result is a striking glimpse into the opaque contracts and enormous windfalls that are buttressing ICE’s buildout of its detention apparatus and the 🛑shadowy operators who are using President #DonaldTrump’s immigration crackdown to build — or rebuild — their reputations.
As The Lever revealed this spring, the Department of Homeland Security’s strategy to buy up detention infrastructure could help it evade state and local oversight.
🛑 But there has also been speculation that ICE’s warehouse deals — which have cost another $1 billion-plus in #taxpayer funds — were designed to shore up a *struggling commercial real estate industry.
As More Perfect Union reported, the Department of Homeland Security bought the warehouses in some cases ❌at double-digit premiums, even as demand for large warehouse property dwindled.
Politically connected real estate brokers, meanwhile, got their own ❌cut of the deals.
Reached by phone and asked about his connection to ICE’s prison deals, Grossmann said that he worked “on real estate” and conducted environmental site assessments. Although he did not dispute that his name appeared in connection with SK2, he said, “I don’t have a contract working with them.”
Grossmann did not respond to The Lever’s additional inquiries. SK2 also did not reply to a request for comment.
#TrumpCrimeFamily #TrumpCrimeSyndicate #AbuseOfPower #Theft #Criminal #Scam #Grift #DonaldTrump #DonaldTrumpJR #EricTrump #MelaniaTrump #JaredKushner #ABunkerTrump #Republicans #GOP #EpsteinList #InsiderTrading #MoneyLaundering #POTUS
https://www.levernews.com/the-failed-developer-behind-ices-billion-dollar-prison-deals/