Manglona dismisses charges vs Tinian Dynasty owner

U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona on Thursday dismissed the indictment against the owner of Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino.

Manglona dismissed without prejudice the criminal charges against Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas) Investments, Ltd. based on the U.S. government’s request. Dismissed without prejudice means the prosecution can re-file the charges in the future.

In a motion to dismiss, Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Lorfing said the motion is made in good faith, primarily based on the documents filed under seal and further discussions that the parties have had following the filing of those documents.

The new owners of Hong Kong Entertainment and the U.S. government have agreed not to prosecute the criminal case against HKE in exchange for HKE’s forfeiture of $3.03 million.

Alicia A.G. Limtiaco, U.S. Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the NMI, announced on Thursday that the parties entered into a non-prosecution agreement that requires Tinian Dynasty to forfeit $3,036,969.12—the largest forfeiture ever collected by the U.S. government in the CNMI.

In a separate press release, HKE chair Wai Chan disclosed that pursuant to the non-prosecution deal that the parties signed, HKE has made a payment of $2.5 million to the U.S. government on Thursday.

With the $2.5 million payment, HKE does not need to pay more because the $536,969.12 that federal agents previously seized from Tinian Dynasty is also forfeited to the U.S. government, bringing the total forfeited amount to $3,036,969.12.

Chan said they still have a lot of work to do and that full compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act requires “considerable planning and diligence.”

Under the deal, the U.S. government—in its sole discretion—can rescind the agreement and initiate criminal proceedings if the U.S. government determines that Tinian Dynasty has failed to comply with any provision of the agreement.

HKE chair Chan said pursuant to the agreement, HKE acknowledges the acts alleged against it, pledges to cooperate with, and to regularly report to, the U.S. government regarding anti-money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act issues.

IRS Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation.

The U.S. government filed in November last year 158 criminal charges against HKE: one count of conspiracy to cause a financial institution to fail to file a currency transaction report or CTR, 155 counts of failure to file a CTR, one count of failure to file a suspicious activity report, and one count of failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program.