The US District Court of the Northern Mariana Islands has given Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC a deadline of 1.30pm this Friday 12 March 2021 to pay the full US$1.2 million balance of a consent judgement or be placed into the hands of a receiver.
The order comes after the same court last Friday named Joyce Tang as the potential receiver, to be tasked with liquidating IPI’s assets should the company fail to comply by the end of this week.
The District Court for the NMI had previously found IPI, its parent company IPI Holdings and Chairwoman Cui Li Jie in contempt of court for violating the consent judgement and failing to pay the wages of employees. It had also ordered them to pay all back wages, the balance of the consent judgement (US$1.2 million) and to place US$800,000 into an escrow account to cover future employee wages.
Tang, a principal at Civille & Tang PLLC law, said Friday that she would likely appoint specialists to conduct appraisals of IPI’s assets, including two crystal dragons that feature in the lobby of its Saipan hotel and casino.
The dragons are estimated to be worth US$129 million but it remains unclear whether they are wholly-owned by IPI and can therefore be listed as an asset to be liquidated.