Associate Justice Alexandra Foster on October 29 ordered that all bank accounts of the defendants be frozen and that financial transactions be stopped until further order of the court.
Associate Justice Foster also ordered that no capital shall be removed from the said accounts.The order came after the government through Assistant Attorney General Michael Copeland filed an ex parte motion for temporary order to freeze the assets to prevent the defendant from dissipating assets or transferring the funds out of Palau.Copeland in his affidavit stated that Esang is listed as the owner of GF Automotive Enterprises, GF Auto Repair and GF Auto Parts and “there is good cause to believe that the businesses are product of an illegal conspiracy between the two defendants to operate a business in violation of the Foreign Investment Act.”The affidavit stated that “each of these businesses deposits their proceeds in a single account at the Bank of Hawaii, Bank of Guam and at the First Commercial Bank, Palau Branch.”The government’s motion affidavit stated that “there is good cause to believe that all of the bank accounts contain proceeds of the illegal conspiracy between Haruo and Lin.”A warrant of arrest has been issued against Esang and Lin on October 29 for multiple charges.Esang and Lin voluntarily appeared in court on October 30 for their first appearances.Haruo was represented by counsel Mark Doran and waived reading of the information and entered a plea of not guilty to the charges.Assistant Public Defender Jason Shaw represented Lin. He also pled not guilty to the charges.Esang and Lin were both released from custody after posting bonds respectively. Esang posted a $500 surety bond while Lin posted $2,000 surety bond.Esang was charged with 16 counts of felony tax fraud, three counts of aiding and abetting a violation of the Foreign Investment Act and three counts of money laundering.Lin was charged with 16 counts of aiding and abetting felony tax fraud, three counts of violations of the Foreign Investment Act and three counts of money laundering.Esang and Lin were also charged with 19 counts of conspiracy.
