Samuel B. Silverman is the founder and managing partner of EB5AN. He is a licensed attorney, a longtime EB-5 industry professional, and an experienced EB-5 program expert witness and litigation consultant.

Sam has spent more than a decade working directly with EB-5 regional centers, investment funds, and investors as well as real estate developers, lenders, immigration attorneys, securities attorneys, and economists. His extensive EB-5 operating experience, combined with his legal training, allows him to analyze a range of disputes—whether they involve the technical requirements of the EB-5 program, the practical realities of operating an EB-5 investment fund, or EB-5 industry best practices.

As an EB-5 expert witness, Sam has assisted lenders, investors, regional centers, and project stakeholders in court litigation and private arbitration. He has been engaged by plaintiffs and claimants as well as defendants. He has delivered expert reports, participated in arbitration proceedings, and given testimony in depositions and at trial.

Download Sam’s EB-5 Expert Witness Brochure

An EB-5 Expert Witness with Deep Knowledge and Practical Experience

Sam founded EB5AN in 2013 and has spent more than a decade structuring and managing EB-5 offerings.

Under Sam’s management, EB5AN has grown to operate 15 regional centers, which have sponsored projects selected by more than 3,000 investor families from over 70 countries.

Sam has participated in more than 200 EB-5 transactions, giving him extensive firsthand knowledge of how these projects are developed, documented, financed, marketed, and managed after investor capital has been raised. In addition to EB-5 regional center investments, Sam has substantial experience with direct EB-5 investments.

He has real-world knowledge of how regional centers and fund managers operate and knows how concerns and expectations differ between investors, developers, lenders, immigration counsel, securities counsel, and government agencies.

An EB-5 Expert with Diverse Witness Experience

Sam has been retained by a wide range of parties—from investors to lenders—and has served plaintiffs and claimants as well as defendants. He understands how investors and fund managers frame their claims, but he also understands the concerns of lenders, developers, regional centers, and others.

His prior engagements as an EB-5 program expert witness include public trial litigation, arbitration, and complex real estate financing litigation.

Select Cases with Sam’s Participation as an EB-5 Expert Witness

Delaware Court of Chancery Trial Involving DVRC—Sam’s Client Prevailed and Received Over $2.36 Million in Damages

Sam served as a plaintiff-side EB-5 expert witness in Bamford v. Penfold, L.P., C.A. No. 2019-0005-JTL (Del. Ch. June 24, 2022).

The public case involved a dispute over the ownership, governance, compensation practices, and expenses of Delaware Valley Regional Center, LLC (DVRC).

Sam prepared an expert report, testified in a deposition, and appeared as a witness at trial. His work addressed the operation of an EB-5 regional center business and the reasonableness of its management practices and expenses.

After trial, the Delaware Court of Chancery found that the individual controlling DVRC had breached his fiduciary duty. The court awarded Sam’s client $2,365,809.22 plus pre- and post-judgment interest (courts.delaware.gov).

The case required Sam to analyze a large evidentiary record, support his conclusions under examination, and explain EB-5 industry practices in a contested courtroom proceeding.

Arbitration Concerning Investor Disclosures and Fund Management—Favorable Outcome for Sam’s Client

Sam served as an expert witness for the claimant in an arbitration involving an EB-5 real estate investment.

The dispute focused partly on whether the investment documents had been updated to disclose changes in the project’s financial structure. The amount and source of the senior construction financing had changed, and the EB-5 capital raise had grown beyond the amount described in the private placement memorandum.

Those changes affected the project’s leverage and the position of the EB-5 investors in the capital structure.

Sam analyzed whether the information would have been significant to an investor considering the offering. He also addressed the fund manager’s responsibilities for financial reporting, investor distributions, job creation records, access to books and records, and redemption rights.

He prepared an expert declaration setting out his opinions and the EB-5 industry practices on which they were based.
The arbitration resulted in a favorable settlement for Sam’s client.

Defense Engagement Involving Senior Bank Financing—Favorable Outcome for Sam’s Client

In another engagement, Sam was retained by attorneys representing a regional bank in litigation involving an EB-5-financed real estate project.

The project had obtained a senior construction loan, while the EB-5 investment occupied a subordinate position in the capital structure. The dispute required a detailed understanding of the roles of the regional center, the EB-5 fund, the project company, and the senior lender.

Sam reviewed the private placement memorandum and advised counsel on how EB-5 transactions were commonly structured during the relevant period. He examined the differences between the project described to investors and the project contemplated when the senior construction financing was provided.

He also assisted counsel with questions involving lender practices, lien priority, subordination, investor risk, and areas requiring additional discovery.

This engagement required Sam to evaluate EB-5 issues from a lender’s perspective and to distinguish the lender’s responsibilities from those of the project sponsor and EB-5 fund manager. It resulted in a favorable settlement for Sam’s client.

EB-5 Expert Witness Services: Reports, Depositions, Arbitration, and Trial Testimony

Sam is available as a consultant and expert witness at all stages of litigation and arbitration. His services include the following:

• Early case evaluation
• Document and transaction review
• Assistance identifying discovery topics
• Written declarations and expert reports
• Rebuttal analysis
• Testimony in deposition, at trial, or in arbitration proceedings
• Preparation of demonstrative exhibits explaining EB-5 structures
• Consultation concerning settlement positions and damages

Each EB-5 expert witness engagement is defined with counsel based on the case’s specific claims, defenses, relevant time period, available documents, and procedural schedule.

Sam Silverman’s Education and Professional Experience

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

Before founding EB5AN, he worked for Boston Consulting Group, where he advised Fortune 500 companies in the United States and internationally.

Sam later served as director of corporate strategy for professional golfer Jack Nicklaus. He lived in Beijing and worked with international developers on real estate projects in the Asia-Pacific region.

His background spans law, consulting, finance, real estate, and EB-5 fund management—allowing him to evaluate each transaction as a whole rather than through a single professional lens.

More About Sam

Sam Silverman co-founded EB5AN in 2013. Since then, Sam has built EB5AN into one of the nation’s leading EB-5 investment fund managers and regional center operators. He oversees the firm’s 15 USCIS-approved regional centers, which span the entire continental United States. He also serves as a general partner of EB5AN’s 50+ real estate investment funds, which together have deployed more than $1 billion in EB-5 capital nationwide.
 
Sam oversees EB5AN’s diverse portfolio of real estate investments. These include single-family homes, townhomes, multifamily apartments, condominiums, ski and wellness resorts, and master-planned communities. Sam leverages his expertise and experience to manage investments across a range of markets including Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.
 
Sam is also a co-founder of Eagle Peak Development, a real estate development firm focused on large-scale residential and golf resort communities. Through Eagle Peak, he is involved in all major phases of community development, including acquisition, planning, financing, construction, sales, and operations. Eagle Peak’s portfolio includes more than 7,000 acres of development, with more than 2,000 remaining homes and condominiums to be developed across its communities.
 
Sam is a recognized authority on the EB-5 program. He is regularly cited by leading media outlets—including The Wall Street Journal and New York Post—for his insight on EB-5 regulations and market trends. He strives to improve access to good information for EB-5 investors and to promote more transparency in the industry.
 
Before founding EB5AN, Sam gained extensive management, financing, and brokerage experience across Florida, Pennsylvania, California, and Georgia. He also worked internationally in Beijing, China, as Director of Corporate Strategy and Expansion for golf legend Jack Nicklaus. In that role, Sam led the brand’s growth across China.

Earlier in his career, Sam was a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, one of the world’s premier management consulting firms. There, he advised Fortune 500 companies across the hospitality, real estate, media, manufacturing, and food service industries.
 
Sam holds a B.A. in Economics with a concentration in Mandarin Chinese from Yale University, a Certificate in Financial Accounting from the London School of Economics, and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Social Entrepreneurship.

Retain Samuel B. Silverman as an EB-5 Program Expert Witness

Law firms and parties seeking assistance from an EB-5 expert witness may contact Sam directly to discuss the engagement.

Email: Sam.Silverman@EB5AN.com