SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota's Board of Regents is refusing to release documents about potential financial conflicts of Joop Bollen, the former director of a troubled immigration program.

The board denied an open records request from the Argus Leader newspaper, saying the records are not public documents because they deal with personnel information.

Bollen headed the EB-5 investment-for-green card program for the state when he was in charge of the South Dakota International Business Institute at Northern State University. The program was privatized in 2009 and turned over to a company Bollen had founded and for which he served as president.

Employees of the state's university system have to fill out annual "conflicts of interest disclosure" forms. The Board of Regents isn't releasing any forms filled out by Bollen.

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