IMPERIAL Pacific International LLC’s parent company, Imperial Pacific International Holdings or IPIH, directly paid the July 2021 settlement payment, by wire transfer, attorney Michael Dotts said in IPI’s 25th status report to the federal court.
Previous payments were made by IPI itself using funds in the CNMI, he said, adding that the July payment, was submitted a day late — July 2 instead of July 1.
“It is uncertain why IPIH did not submit the payment on or before July 1,” Dotts said.
“Undersigned counsel has made an inquiry of IPIH’s accountant but has not yet received a response. Counsel has advised the IPIH accountant of the need to strictly follow the Amended Consent Judgment payment schedule should IPIH make direct payments toward the settlement in the future,” he said.
Dotts also told the court that following Bank of Guam’s production of all cancelled checks, IPI counsel and the U.S. Department of Labor counsel communicated briefly by email to try to resolve the amount still owed to IPI’s employees that is in addition to what is covered by the monthly settlement payments.
“No resolution of the issue was reached,” Dotts said. “Following the July 4 holiday and undersigned counsel’s return to the U.S. mainland scheduled for July 7, IPI’s counsel intends to confer further with [US]DOL counsel to try to wrap this final issue up.”
As for IPI’s payroll, he said it was distributed in full and without incident on Friday, July 2.
“IPI’s next payroll is due on July 16, (Payroll 15),” he added.
Dotts said construction work at Imperial Pacific Resort in Garapan remains suspended as ordered by the court, and that “there is nothing new to report regarding [employee] housing, food, and repatriation.”
Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona has ordered IPI and its then chairwoman Cui Li Jie to purge their contempt by paying $1,182,793 owed as back wages under the April 11, 2019 consent judgment or go into receivership.
On March 23, 2021, IPI and USDOL requested the court to modify the 2019 consent judgment through a stipulation.
The total amount owed under the previous consent judgment was $3,360,000.
According to the stipulation of the parties, IPI paid a total of $1,929,425.28 toward the consent judgment from March 2019 to March 2021.
The remaining balance from the previous consent judgment was $1,430,574 plus $47,856 wages currently owed for a total amount of $1,478,430.
IPI was ordered to make incremental monthly payments of $164,270.08 from April 1, 2021 to Dec. 1, 2021 for a total amount of $1,478,430.72.
To date IPI has made a payment of $657,080.32, from January to July 2021.
The amended consent judgment also required IPI to submit a weekly status report to the federal court.
