Imperial Pacific International (IPI) has bowed to the inevitable and will not fight the suspension of its gaming license in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). IPI operates the scandal-plagued Imperial Pacific Palace resort in Saipan, the largest island in the CNMI.
For two years running, in 2018 and 2019, IPI didn’t pay $40 million in community benefit funds that it is contractually obligated to pay the commonwealth. In 2020, it didn’t pay its annual $15.5 million license fee. IPI has also failed to pay a $3.1 million annual regulatory fee, and didn’t comply with a CCC order directing it to settle amounts owed its vendors. It has not complied with the minimum capital requirements of the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC).
According to Asia Gaming Brief, IPI’s latest counsel, Tiberius Mocanu, told commissioners the company is unable to pay its bill. On hearing that, CCC Executive Director Andrew Yeom asked commissioners to suspend the company’s license “until they fully comply with the orders that they have violated.”
IPI has amassed 16,165 regulatory violations, which could have resulted in a maximum fine of $808 million, reported AGB Nippon. But Yeom asked the tribunal to order a total payment of $5 million.
Assistant Attorney General Mike Ernest seemed to balk at that discount, saying the accumulated evidence and IPI’s history shows it has little regard for the regulations. “We’re asking for the commission to impose a penalty that impresses upon IPI the need to start following the Commonwealth law and to start respecting the CCC,” he said.
Looking at the revocation of its license, IPI hopes the commission will create a compliance structure that allows it to gradually pay its arrears and stay in business. “You create benchmarks that are reasonable and help us succeed, not ones that are punitive and ensure destruction,” Mocanu said. “It’s going to be a fight for IPI to make good and get its license back. To make that fight even more difficult doesn’t make any sense.
“IPI needs to take a beat and regroup and get itself together and come back to the table when it’s ready to be a contributing and responsible member of this community,” Mocanu concluded. “And in order to do that, IPI doesn’t oppose the suspension of this gaming license.”
Meanwhile, another IPI lawyer, Michael Dotts, told the federal court that putting the firm’s local assets into receivership could lead to a “full liquidation.”
In related news, the CCC has rejected former CNMI Senator Ray N. Yumul’s application to be temporarily licensed as IPI’s chief executive officer, arguing that the license fees must be paid first. According to Marianas Variety, Senator Edith Deleon Guerrero says IPI should look for its next CEO “from the outside.”
In a statement, she said hiring “outside of the CNMI would ensure that the person will have the qualifications to fix the various problems that the casino is facing.
“The CNMI must cease looking for an instant solution to its financial situation,” she said, adding that this “bad habit” has put the local economy at risk.
