THE Commonwealth Casino Commission is monitoring the progress of a writ of execution in the District Court for NMI involving Imperial Pacific International’s assets.
Earlier this month, Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the federal court granted IPI’s motion to stay judgment pending appeal; to approve the appeal bond; to stay the execution of the judgment pending appeal; and to stay the receivership.
The motion pertains to the lawsuit filed by USA Fanter Corp. Ltd. for IPI’s failure to pay the full contract amount due for labor and materials that the plaintiff provided for the improvement of the casino investor’s real property in Garapan.
The lawsuit stated that IPI had paid USA Fanter $300,000 only, and that the unpaid balance due was not less than $2,089,345.28.
IPI, which is facing several other lawsuits from other vendors or former employees, shut down in March 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
In his report to the commissioners last week, Casino Commission Executive Director Andrew Yeom said that as of Jan. 25, IPI had agreed to provide sufficient security to stay the enforcement of its other creditors’ judgments.
“This is an indication that the other creditors aside from USA Fanter…have been working toward finalizing agreements with IPI ‘under which the parties have worked to resolve issues related to proper form of the [appeal] bond where multiple installment payments are being made,” Yeom told the commissioners.
Another IPI creditor, Ping Shun Corp., for an example, officially filed a stipulation in federal court stating that it has executed an agreement with IPI to stay enforcement of its judgment in exchange for IPI securing an appeal bond in the amount of $445,000 on or before Feb. 22, 2022.
“As such, receivership…remains an open issue as Chief Judge Manglona did not fully dissolve receivership as other creditors have ‘piggy backed’ on the judgment originally granted in favor of USA Fanter,” Yeom said.
“This in turn will require [the casino commission] to continue to monitor the [issue] and work with all related parties to secure the movement of these gaming assets until…this…matter concludes for all concerned parties,” he added.
Yeom and the commissioners then held a closed-door meeting to further discuss the issue.
Yeom earlier filed four complaints against IPI and sought the revocation of the casino investor’s exclusive license for its failure to pay the annual license fee and regulatory fee, among other violations.
Commonwealth Casino Commission Executive Director Andrew Yeom gestures while speaking with House members during a meeting on July 22, 2021.
