Right around the time the Nets arrive in Beijing next Monday, Bruce Ratner will be pitching investments in Atlantic Yards to Chinese businessmen at a hotel in the Chinese capital.  Ratner is hoping to raise a quarter billion dollars to help him build out his overall project. The city and state endorse the effort.

Barclays Center, the first element in the project, is fully funded, but Ratner is seeking funds to finance the rebuilt railyard next door and pay off a loan on a piece of property outside the arena footprint.  He's doing so under a controversial program that offers investors green cards in return for $500,000 in financing...and the middleman he's using to attract investors is using the Nets' visit to promote the effort.

The controversy has attracted so much attention that Brooklyn Boro President Marty Markowitz, an Atlantic Yards supporter, has decided not to accompany Ratner to Beijing.

• Ratner plan Nets critics - Michael O'Keeffe - New York Daily News
• ESDC admits "green cards for investors" program won't create any new jobs - Norman Oder - Atlantic Yards Report
• Markowitz pulls out of controversial China trip to benefit Nets arena - Rich Calder - New York Post
• Feeling pressure (?), Markowitz pulls out of China trip, even though it was OK'd by the Conflicts of Interests Board - Norman Oder - Atlantic Yards Report
• NYCRC misleads Chinese investors about project - Norman Oder - Atlantic Yards Report