Citing sensitive information, protective order sought

Assistant U.S. attorney Eric O’Malley sought Tuesday a protective order in the case against MCC International project manager Yuqing Zhao.

Assistant U.S. attorney James J. Benedetto also filed a motion for a protective order in the case against Beilida Overseas president Hui Lu and Beilida’s Wencai Guo, Xiufang Qi, and Hongwei Ma.

O’Malley and Benedetto said the protective order would restrict the defendants’ and their defense team’s use and disclosure of any information that is given them.

The indictment charged Zhao with harboring illegal aliens. A separate indictment charged Beilida Overseas president Lu and Beilida’s Guo, Qi, and Ma with harboring illegal aliens.

The charges were in connection with the alleged illegal Chinese workers at Imperial Pacific International CNMI LLC’s ongoing construction of the casino and resort in Garapan.

O’Malley and Benedetto said that due to the nature of the case, the discovery includes documents and data that contain sensitive information, including personal identifying information such as Social Security number, passport numbers, and dates of birth, for numerous individuals.

O’Malley and Benedetto said the discovery also includes tax and bank account information and other sensitive information regarding individuals who are not charged in the indictments and whose relevance to this case is not yet known.

They said that manually searching and redacting the sensitive information for each and every document is time-consuming, burdensome, impractical, and subject to a high risk of error.

O’Malley and Benedetto said a protective order will allow the U.S. government to produce discovery with only minimal redactions, and will ensure that all parties are aware of their responsibilities in handling sensitive information.

According to the indictment, beginning on Aug. 1, 2016, and continuing until March 31, 2017, Zhao harbored 15 illegal aliens.

The separate indictment alleges that on March 8 through March 22, 2017, Lu, Guo, and Ma harbored an illegal alien, Yuanyou Hu, by shielding him from detection and which resulted in Hu’s death.

Hu, a Chinese national, died after reportedly falling from a scaffold at the construction site of the Imperial Pacific casino and resort project last March 22.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation found out that Hu entered the CNMI as a tourist and was not authorized to work in the Commonwealth.

On Feb. 7 through March 22, 2017, Lu Guo, Qi, and Ma allegedly harbored six illegal aliens.

MCC International is the construction contractor for Imperial Pacific. Beilida Overseas is a subcontractor. The Garapan offices of the two companies were searched by the FBI last March 30.