How government corrupts even how companies raise money for projects

Democratic Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe figured out how to raise money for this "green" car company: get approval for foreigners to get US citizenship in exchange for $500,000 investments.  He apparently had no problem name dropping important Democrats to put pressure on bureaucrats to expedite the approval process.  You have to wonder how strong an investment is when you have to get them this type of government favors in return for the investment.  Possibly it isn't too surprising that McAuliffe's car company had been a bust.  Given that this was occurring during the Obama administration, it also raising additional questions of corruption involving other Democrats.  From the Associated Press:

The electric-car company headed until last fall by Democratic Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe and a sister company led by the brother of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are under federal scrutiny over how they used a foreign investor visa program.

. . . The inquiry is related to their use of a Department of Homeland Security program that grants permanent residency to foreign investors who invest $500,000 or more in economically struggling areas for ventures that create American jobs. . . .

"I have been extremely frustrated by the USCIS approval process," McAuliffe wrote to Doug Smith, a Homeland Security assistant secretary on July 28, 2010. "You should be aware that Senator Warner and other Members of Congress have made inquiries on this project." . . .

Years' worth of emails and other correspondence between McAuliffe and other GreenTech executives and Virginia Economic Development Partnership first reported by AP in December showed that VEDP staff under Democratic and Republican governors showed company officials a variety of sites in economically depressed Virginia regions. But the Virginia officials never got answers to questions about company operations and became skeptical of the investments-for-visas EB-5 program as a cornerstone of GreenTech's financing.