LIANG Yang on Thursday pled guilty to Count 1 of the indictment charging him with conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
The court accepted Yang’s guilty plea and found him guilty of the offense. The jury trial was also vacated and sentencing was set for Jan. 26, 2024.
Designated Judge Robert C. Naraja presided over the change of plea hearing in the District Court for NMI.
Also present were Assistant U.S. Attorneys Albert Flores Jr. and Ashley Kost, Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force Officer Raymond Renguul, the defendant’s counsel, Vincent Seman, and interpreter, Monique Kramer.
Yang was arrested following the seizure of 10 pounds or 4,535.92 grams of liquid methamphetamine with a street value of over $1.8 million by CNMI Customs and Biosecurity enforcers. They discovered the illegal drugs in lava lamps while inspecting two packages at the U.S. Post Office in Chalan Kanoa on Sept. 23, 2023.
Not true
The defendant had told the prosecution that he was invited by Imperial Pacific International to come to Saipan and introduce VIP guests to the games at the IPI casino.
But in an interview on Wednesday, IPI Director How Yo Chi and majority shareholder Cui Lijie said IPI never invited Yang to Saipan.
They said IPI had nothing to do with Yang’s travel to Saipan.
How Yo Chi said Yang neither worked for IPI nor conducted any business transaction of any sort with the casino investor.
Cui Lijie said she knew Yang because he was the boyfriend of a business competitor in Beijing, China. Cui Lijie said she and Yang’s girlfriend used to own restaurants in Beijing.
Cui Lijie said when she went to Saipan in 2017 to attend the opening of IPI’s casino in Garapan, she was surprised to see Yang on island. But she reiterated that IPI neither hired nor did business with Yang.
IPI’s casino has been closed since March 2020.
According to the prosecution, Yang does not have a lawful immigration status in the U.S. or the CNMI, and has overstayed his conditional parole, which expired on Jan. 30, 2019.
“Despite no lawful immigration status,” the prosecution added, “Defendant acquired CNMI driver licenses on at least three occasions, to include at least two licenses from Saipan and one license from Rota. Investigators are aware Defendant makes a living, in part, by providing a shuttle service as a driver for visiting tourists from the airport and other places on Saipan. This shuttle service is provided while Defendant relies upon unlawfully issued driver licenses from the CNMI Bureau of Motor Vehicles….”
Moreover, Yang has acknowledged his relationship to “BT,” a person known to investigators as a notorious drug trafficker on Saipan and Guam, the prosecution stated.
Liang Yang
