Despite an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the owner of the Potala Village project in the Lakeview neighborhood are still looking to move forward with their design plans.

According to city of Kirkland Senior Planner Angela Ruggerri, Potala had a conference with the Design Review Board (DRB) scheduled for Oct. 16 but have asked for it to be pushed back to Nov. 16. Potala had its first conceptual design conference in March.

Lobsang Dargey, Potala’s owner, is being sued in federal court by the SEC for allegedly raising more than $125 million through sales of securities to at least 250 investors for Path America and the Potala Place development in Everett. The SEC recently filed a motion to appoint a receiver, Michael A. Grassmueck of the Grassmueck Group, over Potala Village Kirkland and other LLCs owned by Dargey, to “ensure that their remaining assets are not dissipated or unnecessarily subject to loss in value during the pendency of this litigation.”

“A receiver is necessary because it is imperative that a person other than Dargey make an informed decision about the projects that were begun with investor money and whether they can and should be completed as originally described,” the Sept. 22 motion states.

The SEC complaint alleges that Dargey and Path America used the EB-5 system, which allows foreign nationals who invest at least $500,000 in a project that generates or preserves at least 10 jobs for U.S. workers to qualify for residency in the United States, to raise money from Chinese investors by encouraging them to invest in Potala Place and Potala Tower. However, instead he allegedly misappropriated $17.6 million, $14.7 million involving Potala Shoreline LLC and Potala Village Kirkland LLC, which are not eligible for the EB-5 visa program.

Unless Dargey pulls out of the design review phase altogether, however, the legal complaints won’t affect the design review process. The proposed project would be a 138,434-square-foot, three-story building that would include approximately 7,000 square feet of ground floor retail space on the north and south corners of the building, as well as 58 residential units on the second and third floor.