Etowah Village developer funded State and Gwinnett County officials’ trips to promote Asian Village Atlanta with his nonprofit

Etowah Village developer, Yong Pan, used his nonprofit, East West Cultural Exchange Foundation, to fund trips for government officials to promote his previous Asian Village plan. The East West Cultural Exchange Foundation was funded by China and established in 2003 to "manage the cultural elements" of Asian Village Atlanta.

 In 2005, the foundation sent a group including Rep. Tom Rice (R-Norcross) to China to "drum up more investments" for Asian Village Atlanta.  Gwinnett County Commission Chairman, Charles Bannister said "he's turned down similar invitations from Pan" but may consider a trip to China in the future.  Bannister and County Administrator, Jock Connell,  did accept a trip to Disney World just a few months before Pan submitted a rezoning application to Gwinnett County.

The East West Cultural Exchange Foundation registered as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization in 2007. As a tax exempt charitable organization, East West Cultural Exchange Foundation was required to file annual returns of their income and expenses with the IRS. However, such returns were never filed and the IRS revoked the 501(c)(3) status in 2010 following 3 consecutive years of not filing a form 990-Series. East West Cultural Exchange Foundation was administratively dissolved in 2015.

In 2018, Yong Pan reinstated the East West Cultural Exchange Foundation 3 months after registering Dawson Village Partners LLC.  The Rezoning Narrative submitted to Dawson County in August names Dawson Village Partners LLC as the applicant to rezone land for the development of Etowah Village. The application which includes the Rezoning Narrative can be found on the Dawson County website.


Tue, Feb 21, 2006 – J1 · The Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) · Newspapers.com Tue, Feb 21, 2006 – J2 · The Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) · Newspapers.com

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