Inos told reporters that the CNMI government hired New York-based Kobre & Kim law firm on a “contingency deal,” which means the compensation is based only on the success of work.
“That is why we got nothing to lose for pursuing this,” he said.
To pursue the civil case, which is basically a “collection issue,” Inos said the CNMI government still has to continue working with attorneys.
“We will let the process to occur because we don’t want to rush these things to a point that we would lose the whole effort,” Inos said.
The search for Millard who was tracked down on Grand Cayman by Kobre & Firm investigators has been “in the works for quite some time” said the lt. governor.
It’s a complex case, he added, because it crosses international jurisdictions due to the location of the assets.
“It is a real complex and complicated case so it takes a lot of time to put it together. Right now it is still a working progress. But this is a collection case. The judgment has been entered since way back in 1994,” he said.
Asked if extradition will occur, Inos said, “we are not at that point yet.”
“This is civil matter, not a criminal matter. Again, it is a collection case and we are just trying to get what we can get from what we believe is owed, and that is just it,” he said.
The litigation, he added, is going to take a long time because it is not just the individual that is involved “but we are dealing with jurisdictions that are not immediately within our reach.”
The commonwealth, he said, may have to invoke international treaties.
Millard’s wealth, he noted, is spread all over the globe so it is not that easy to bring them all into one place.
“Again, it is a work in progress and this is just a start of a major effort,” Inos said.
He said if their efforts are successful, “it may not solve all our problems right away, but it will at least address some of the issues of the day.”
Millard, who owned the ComputerLand Corp. chain of retail computer stores, vanished almost 20 years ago, leaving behind a CNMI tax debt of $36,636,094.21. This amount grew to $118,043,535 due to statutory interest.
Millard and his wife briefly resided on Saipan and it was during their stay here when they sold their interests in ComputerLand for over $200 million.
