Montpelier — Lt. Gov. Phil Scott has issued a statement condemning the Shumlin administration’s decision to allow alleged fraudsters Bill Stenger and Ariel Quiros to keep soliciting foreign investments even after authorities had suspicions of wrongdoing.

In April, federal and state authorities filed lawsuits against Stenger and Quiros alleging fraud on the scale of $200 million.

A Vermont Public Radio investigation revealed that administration officials received documents that raised suspicions as early as 2014.

“Even after repeatedly failing to provide compliance information to state regulators, they [Stenger and Quiros] were allowed to raise more money,” said Scott, who is running for governor. (Shumlin is not running for re-election.)

Stenger and Quiros raised the money through a federal program known as EB-5, which grants U.S. residency to foreign investors who have made a job-creating investment of $500,000. EB-5-funded projects in Vermont are overseen by state authorities.

Even after the state launched an investigation into the alleged fraud, Quiros and Stenger failed to produce financial statements requested by state regulators. Despite those problems, the state allowed the pair to solicit new investments from abroad for their Northeast Kingdom projects.

“By the administration’s own admission, it was a ‘calculated risk,’” Scott said in the statement. “Yet, they’ve not yet explained why they took this risk or why they allowed the problem to continue to grow.”

The governor’s staff says the early indications of potential wrongdoing that the administration received in November 2014 — bank statements indicating co-mingled accounts — prompted officials to ask detailed questions, but were not evidence of fraud.