Controversial Imperial Pacific International (IPI) figurehead Cui Li Jie has stepped down as an Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors as she continues to face questions from the US District Court over the company’s failure to fulfil its obligations in Saipan.
Her departure comes just over a month after the IPI’s Saipan subsidiary, Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC, had its casino license suspended indefinitely and just days after a lawyer representing seven former construction workers accused Cui of a “pattern of obstructionist and disobedient behavior.”
The workers are suing IPI over alleged labor law violations and human trafficking related to the construction of Imperial Palace • Saipan.
According to a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange late Friday, Cui has now resigned as an Executive Director of the company and as Chairperson of the Board of Directors “due to her personal time constraint”, although she retains her 60.69% interest in the company via her wholly-owned investment vehicle Inventive Star Ltd.
Mr Xu Zhongxiang has been appointed to the IPI Board of Directors in Cui’s place.
IPI’s Saipan casino license was suspended in late April after five complaints were filed over its failure to comply with certain requirements under its license agreement.
Those five complaints specifically related to IPI’s failure to pay its annual US$15.5 million license fee last August, failure to pay its annual US$3.1 million regulatory fee in October, failure to contribute US$20 million to the community benefit fund in both 2018 and 2019, failure to comply with its minimum US$2 billion capital requirement and failure to comply with a CCC order to pay all money owing to its vendors.
IPI was given six months to repay both the US$15.5 million casino license fee and US$3.1 million regulatory fee, as well as a US$6.6 million fine, or risk having its license revoked.
Last week, a lawyer representing the seven former construction workers currently suing IPI questioned Cui’s attempts to blame her own former lawyer for a recent lack of compliance with court orders, claiming she had exhibited a “pattern of obstructionist and disobedient behavior.”
He also listed multiple examples of Cui being uncooperative in cases unrelated to the lawyer in question.
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