Feds looking into SD beef plant
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- The Associated Press has learned that federal authorities are investigating the finances of a bankrupt beef plant and a federal immigration program that supplied much of its funding.
Northern Beef Packers' former general partner and its former construction engineer tell AP they've been questioned by federal investigators about the idled Aberdeen plant's financial dealings and the EB-5 program. EB-5 seeks to attract foreign investors via the promise of eased immigration.
The revelation comes a day after Gov. Dennis Daugaard said the state's economic development office was being investigated.
Daugaard wouldn't give details of that investigation and officials refused to confirm that the investigations are one and the same.
A former top official in the development office, Richard Benda, was found dead with a gunshot wound earlier this month.
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