FOLLOWING an evidentiary hearing on Thursday, the District Court for the NMI found that former Imperial Pacific International LLC chairwoman Lijie Cui had purged her contempt of court.
At the hearing, Cui, through her attorney, Joey San Nicolas, invoked her right to “plead the fifth,” or the right to remain silent, but was overruled by Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona who directed Cui to answer the questions of the plaintiffs’ attorney, Aaron Halegua.
Also called to the witness stand were Fely Forbes, an IT&E employee, and Jeremiah Wolfe, an investigator hired by Cui.
The federal court held an evidentiary hearing because of Cui’s failure to comply with a previous order regarding her electronically stored information or ESI and cell phone data.
According to the minutes of the District Court, “Court entered findings that Ms. Cui Lijie has purged her contempt. Court apprised counsel it will not hold further hearings regarding ESI…. Attorney San Nicolas [will] submit total sanctions imposed to Attorney Halegua for review and the final numbers to be submitted to the Court by Friday, March 18, 2022. Court [will] review accrued attorney’s fees and an order to be issued.”
Cui is a third-party witness in the lawsuit of seven construction workers against IPI and its former contractor and subcontractor, MCC International and Gold Mantis Construction Decoration, both of which have already settled with the plaintiffs: Tianming Wang, Dong Han, Yongjun Meng, Liangcai Sun, Youli Wang, Qingchun Xu, and Duxin Yan.
Judge Manglona has said that because the $5.4 million default judgment in favor of the plaintiffs remained unsatisfied, all ESI data held by the former IPI chair remain relevant to the proceeding.
The judge has also repeatedly found Cui to be not in compliance with previous preservation and contempt orders regarding the ESI that she had created or used, including emails, and ESI data sent or received by others on her behalf.
In December 2021, Judge Manglona entered a finding of contempt against Cui and ordered her to pay a per diem sanction of $200 starting Thursday, Dec. 23, to be imposed until Cui complied. On Jan. 10, 2022 the judge raised the amount to $1,000 daily.
In February 2022, the federal court approved the stay agreement between IPI and the seven plaintiffs.
According to the joint stipulation, the plaintiffs “shall stay enforcement of their default judgment in exchange for IPI and certain other parties securing a supersedeas [or appeal] bond in the amount of $6 million on or before June 30, 2022, committing other collateral, and fulfilling other obligations set forth in the stay agreement.”
IPI secured an initial appeal bond in the amount of $1 million on Feb. 11, 2022, and had reimbursed the expenses and a portion of the legal fees incurred by the plaintiffs in enforcing their judgment by making a payment to the plaintiffs’ counsel on Feb. 9, 2022.
The plaintiffs’ lawsuit alleged labor violations and human trafficking.
After IPI’s motion for reconsideration was denied by the federal court, the casino investor appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
