“IT is indisputable that former Imperial Pacific International LLC chairwoman Lijie Cui has violated the contempt order and that she has provided false testimony to this court,” attorney Aaron Halegua said in a status report to the federal court.
“There is also clear evidence that she continues to defraud plaintiffs and this court,” Halegua added. “As monetary sanctions have once again proven insufficient to compel compliance, Ms. Cui should be incarcerated until she complies with the court’s order,” he added.
On Aug. 26, 2021 Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI found Cui in contempt, again, for failing to comply with a previous preservation order in the lawsuit of seven construction workers alleging labor violations, including human trafficking.
Judge Manglona ordered Cui to “tender the desktop computer she uses” so that a forensic copy could be given to the plaintiffs’ attorney.
Cui was also given five days from the issuance of the order to file an amended sworn statement regarding her Electronically Stored Information or ESI that she created or used, including emails, and ESI data sent or received by others on her behalf.
The judge instructed Cui to include the identification of people who acted on her behalf as IPI chair in conveying communication.
In addition, Cui was ordered to provide proof of purchase of her rose gold iPhone, and to immediately tender all remaining SIM cards.
She must also file with the court within two weeks a sworn statement from the vendor affirming the imaging of all devices and the WeChat account data that was preserved.
Failing to comply will result in daily sanctions amounting to $1,000 per day to be paid to the court.
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.
Representing them are attorneys Bruce Berline and Halegua.
According to Halegua, on Aug. 30, Cui submitted her first amended declaration regarding ESI data.
But the amended ESI declaration did not comply with the contempt order, which plaintiffs explained in a letter to Cui, dated Sept. 15, he said.
On Sept. 24, Cui then filed another amended declaration regarding ESI data.
“Even after plaintiffs meticulously described the deficiencies in the amended ESI Declaration, her second attempt still does not comply with the contempt order because it fails to clearly explain each item required by the court, wholly ignores certain items, and provides information that is contradicted by other evidence,” Halegua said.
Moreover, “plaintiffs have obtained additional evidence — including the declaration of Juan Lizama (former counsel to Cui), the second declaration of Fely P. Forbes (IT&E staff), and the third declaration of Jonathan Langton, who analyzed Ms. Cui’s computer — that Ms. Cui has made numerous additional false statements under oath and continues to defraud plaintiffs and the court,” Halegua said.
Cui is represented by attorney David Lujan.
Previously, the federal court entered a $5.4 million default judgment in favor of the plaintiffs against IPI.
The judgment remains unsatisfied, and this is the reason why all ESI data held by the former IPI chair remain relevant to the proceedings, the court earlier said.
