Inside Asian Gaming

FEBRUARY 2018 INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 11 The creditor that backed the former management team of Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino was one of nine Hong Kong investors to fly to Tinian in January with a view to re-opening the shuttered property. Tim Chen, the principal owner of Tinian Entertainment Corp, chartered the international flight – the first ever to fly to Tinian from Hong Kong – to celebrate the long-awaited opening of Tinian International Airport. But high on his agenda was advancing the possibility of purchasing, renovating and re- opening Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino, which closed in 2015 after former owner Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas) Investments Ltd (HKE) declared bankruptcy. Chen has revealed that his company was one of HKE’s backers at the time. Speaking to local media about his delegation of investors, Chen said, “I have been thinking a lot about investing here so I tried to convince them to put some investment on this island because it is so beautiful. We will have a meeting with the mayor and the delegation members to discuss the project.” The biggest obstacle to Chen gaining control is the US$75 million worth of fines hanging over the head of whoever Hong Kong investors look to revive shuttered Tinian casino Mark Brown steps down as Imperial Pacific Chairman Imperial Pacific International has announced the departure of IPI (CNMI) Chairman Mark Brown, stating that he “will be missed” after three years with the Saipan casino developer. Brown stepped down from his role in late December, having first joined IPI’s Saipan unit Best Sunshine as CEO in 2014. He subsequently stepped aside as Best Sunshine CEO in February 2017 – around five months before casino operations were moved across to soft-opened Imperial Pacific Resort – to become non-executive Chairman of IPI. In a statement, IPI said that Brown “has made the decision to retire from his current position to pursue other projects closer to his family in the mainland United States. His last working day for IPI CNMI was on 20 December, 2017. “As one of the most prominent and respected leaders in the gaming industry for over a quarter century, the company is proud to have had Mr Brown in its leadership team for the past three years. Mr Brown’s leadership and expertise were a major contribution to the company’s success.” purchases Tinian Dynasty. The civil penalty was imposed by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in June 2015 “for willful and egregious violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)” with FinCEN’s assessment finding at the time that Tinian Dynasty failed to develop and implement an anti-money- laundering (AML) program. Chen said he was unwilling to take on the US$75 million fine but hoped a resolution was still possible.