The U.S. District Court for the NMI will hold a hearing today for Xiao Yan Chen’s plea agreement.
The hearing for the plea agreements of Jun Yan Zhang and Lei Xu was scheduled for Feb. 1.
These defendants are represented by court-appointed lawyers: Robert T. Torres, Ramon Quichocho, and Richard W. Pierce.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kirk Schuler and Beverly McCallum are the prosecutors.
Designated Chief Judge David Wiseman had so far accepted the plea agreements from 11 of the 24 defendants, and sentenced them to one-year probation commencing immediately.
They were also brought to authorized U.S. immigration officials for deportation proceedings.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s masseuse, Qingmei Cheng, and Jian Li were the ringleaders of the group, the prosecution stated.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office is expected to file a motion today in response to the Attorney General’s Office arguments seeking to quash the subpoenas to CNMI officials, and to vacate the Feb. 17 evidentiary hearing on the unauthorized “transfer” of Cheng to the governor’s residence so she could massage him.
