An artist’s rendition of the “Tinian Wyndham Ocean View Resort” project.
IN a lawsuit filed in the Southern District Court of New York, Tianyi Wei said she was duped into investing $800,000 in a non-existent Tinian Wyndham Ocean View Resort.
Wei is a Chinese citizen residing in Saint Kitts and Nevis, in the Caribbean. Through her attorney, Preston J. Postlethwaite, she filed a complaint on March 6, 2025 alleging fraud, negligent misrepresentations, breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, and constructive trust. She is demanding a jury trial.
The defendants are Erik Fangshen Wang, Xianjun Meng, also known as Jacky Meng, Silvia Siu, also known as Xiao Bing, James Huang, also known as Huang Jin, American Northern Marianas Regional Center LLC, and Bridge Investment Group.
All the individual defendants are U.S. citizens and reside in New York.
American Northern Marianas Regional Center is a limited liability company organized in the CNMI with a Tinian address.
Bridge Investment Group is a limited liability company organized in the CNMI with a Tinian address.
According to the lawsuit, as of Oct. 29, 2024, a total of $67.8 million in EB-5 funds had been invested in the investment fund (American Northern Marianas Economic Development Fund LLC) from a total of 130 individuals to finance the development and construction of the hotel resort project in Tinian.
The lawsuit stated that Tinian Wyndham Ocean View Resort was magnificently described as “an exclusive, luxury travel destination funded by foreign investors under a USCIS-approved EB-5 investment program, sitting on 385,000 square feet of prime ocean-facing real estate located on the Island of Tinian….”
Lodging accommodations supposedly included “the Tinian Diamond Hotel, a six-star 300-room luxury hotel, and the Tinian Diamond Suites, containing thirty-six double suites perfectly suited for extended stays. Visitors [will] enjoy a bevy of dining and shopping options available at any one of the seven restaurants and four retail stores, all of which are within walking distance of the main attraction — the Tinian Diamond Casino. At the Casino, which [will] employ…hundreds of people living on Tinian and its adjacent islands, visitors [will be] immersed in a high-end gambling entertainment experience and select their game of choice from the 150 ‘Las Vegas-style’ tables and 175 slot machines. Travel to and from the island [will be] easy via the Diamond Ferry, which [will] seamlessly shuttle…visitors to the Resort where they [will be] welcomed by the majestic Tinian Port Commercial Center which also includes offices and conference rooms for discerning VIPs. The Resort — constructed from the ground up under the supervision of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and with the support of the United States government — is managed by the world-class Wyndham Hotels and Resorts team and its operations are led by experienced real estate developers.”
The project was also designated as a United States government-approved regional center qualified to receive foreign investments through the EB-5 Immigrant Investment Program. It was used to “lure” the plaintiff, Tianyi Wei, into investing $800,000 into the American Northern Marianas Economic Development Fund, LLC, a New York-based limited liability company financing the Resort, the lawsuit stated.
In exchange for her capital investment and payment of the requisite additional $80,000 administrative fee, she was supposed to not only own a modest equity interest in the resort and its future profits, but she would also obtain a permanent residency or green card in the United States under the EB-5 Program, the lawsuit stated.
“The Project turned out to be a deliberate investment fraud and none of the Project’s rosy prospects were true. The defendants embezzled the investors’ funds totaling nearly $70 million,” the lawsuit added.
“At the time of Plaintiff’s investment in April 2023…the ‘Resort’ splashed throughout various brochures and presentations did not exist. It was a total scam,” the lawsuit stated.
In reality, it added, “after eight years of development and construction to the tune of $75 million, the vast majority of which was sourced from funds raised through the EB-5 Program, the Resort was nothing more than a refurbished warehouse and a two-story apartment building half of which was converted into ‘hotel rooms’ and the other half used exclusively as defendant Bridge Investment Group, LLC’s onsite office suite.”
“Thus,” the lawsuit stated, “not only had Plaintiff been duped into investing $800,000…for an ownership interest in a warehouse and a two-story refurbished apartment building located in a remote island in the Pacific Ocean, rather than a luxurious Wyndham resort, but Plaintiff was also no longer eligible to receive permanent residency status in the United States under the EB-5 Program because the fraudulent project orchestrated by defendants had willfully misled the U.S. government thus causing the Project to be revoked by the USCIS.”
Through the USCIS EB-5 Program, foreign investors can obtain an investment-based permanent resident status in the U.S. by investing $500,000 in a qualifying project and proving that such investment ultimately created 10 full-time jobs.
The development of the resort began in 2014 with a projected total cost of $143 million, the lawsuit said.
“In May 2022, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services…launched a fraud investigation into the Resort and unearthed undeniable evidence of rampant misappropriation of funds after site visits to the Resort by USCIS officials on May 9-11, 2022,” the lawsuit stated.
Wei is seeking $1.75 million in damages, reasonable attorney fees, suit costs, and other relief.
On March 12, 2025, the Southern District Court of New York issued an electronic summons against all the defendants to file an answer to Wei’s complaint.
Owned by Bridge Investment Group LLC, Tinian Diamond and Casino officially opened on Nov. 30, 2023 but shut down on Dec. 26, 2024.
Tinian Mayor Edwin P. Aldan has said that the casino “had to cease operation because they are not making money.”
Variety was unable to get a comment from any of the defendants.
