THE House Special Committee on Federal Assistance & Disaster-Related Funding on Friday unanimously found two former marketing contractors of the BOOST program in contempt.
Salina Sapp and Robert Travilla are the president and vice president of Nonstop Corporation, which was contracted by the administration of then-Gov. Ralph DLG Torres to promote the federally funded $17 million Building Optimism, Opportunities and Stability Together program in 2022.
Like the other former BOOST contractor, Shayne Villanueva, who appeared before the committee on Tuesday, Travilla and Sapp invoked their Fifth Amendment right in response to all questions pertaining to the BOOST program. The committee found Villanueva in contempt.
Travilla and Sapp, however, answered questions about their educational and professional background. They said they do not have a degree in marketing or advertising management, and that they established Nonstop Corporation on Aug. 8, 2022, two months before the implementation of the BOOST program.
Invoices obtained by the special committee indicated that Nonstop Corporation was paid by the CNMI government a total of $323,415.29 for marketing services.
When the committee resumed its meeting on Friday morning, Rep. Marissa Flores moved to find Travilla in contempt for violating 1 CMC Section 1307. She said Travilla was repeatedly asked questions about BOOST on Thursday, and repeatedly refused.
Flores further moved that the special committee ask Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez to send a statement of contempt to the attorney general for prosecution in the CNMI court.
Her motion was unanimously approved by the committee members.
The committee chair, Rep. Ralph N. Yumul, then told Travilla that he was excused, “but we may call you back if there are other questions to be answered.”
Self-incrimination
Before the committee members could ask Sapp questions, her attorney, Joseph Horey, who is also Travilla’s counsel, told the lawmakers that in the interest of expediting and simplifying matters, Sapp “does intend to invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and decline to answer questions regarding the BOOST program.”
In response to Rep. Blas Jonathan Attao’s questions, Sapp provided her name, the village where she lives, and said, “I have no post-secondary education. I’m a business owner for over 13 years, and I was previously in the Air Force Reserve.”
Attao told her to “please do note that pursuant to 1 CMC Section 1306, a person shall be held in contempt if a person fails or refuses to answer any relevant question or fails or refuses to furnish any relevant book, paper or other documents subpoenaed by or on behalf of an investigating committee.”
House Floor Leader Edwin Propst began his line of questioning by referring to a WhatsApp chat group involving “Chief” (former Office of the Governor Chief of Staff Will Castro), Rob Travilla, “Salina’s” and “Dontana.”
“Ms. Sapp is this person, ‘Salina’s’ — is this you?” Propst asked.
Sapp replied, “On the advice of counsel I decline to answer based on 1 CMC 1307 (c) and the Fifth Amendment.”
Propst also asked her about the invoices and checks pertaining to BOOST events held at Hafa Adai Roasting Company and Naked Fish Bar & Grill.
Propst added, “I want to clarify that the Roasting Company and Naked Fish submitted these documents — they were cooperative [and] were not subject of the investigation. [That’s] something that we need to clear, so that people don’t think that these companies did any wrong thing. They were solicited to host BOOST events.”
Rep. John Paul Sablan asked Sapp about the general service agreement between the CNMI government and Nonstop Corp., which charged a “flat fee” of $50,000 for “strategic marketing, integrated communication and project management.”
Other committee members also asked questions regarding BOOST, to which Sapp replied by invoking her Fifth Amendment privilege.
Flores later moved to find Sapp in contempt. Her motion was unanimously approved.
Yumul said the committee “is hereby releasing Ms. Sapp from the subpoena; however, we, the committee, may call her back in the future [for] any other clarification. With that, thank you.”
Yumul said the committee meeting will resume on Tuesday, March 12, at 10 a.m., to question former Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig.
Also present during the committee meeting on Friday were Reps. Vicente Camacho, Diego Vincent F. Camacho and Angelo Camacho. Rep. Vincent S. Aldan was excused.
Former BOOST contractor Salina Sapp, right, with her lawyer, Joseph Horey.
