Previous Story
MCC Int’l exec signs plea deal with US govt
The MCC International project manager who was one of five indicted for allegedly harboring illegal Chinese workers who worked on the Pacific Imperial International CNMI LLC casino resort in Garapan has signed a plea deal with the U.S. government.
Yuqing Zhao’s lawyer, Colin M. Thompson, and assistant U.S. attorney Eric S. O’Malley both asked the federal court to vacate the trial and pretrial conference. Instead, they asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI to hold a change of plea hearing on Oct. 25, 2017.
The plea deal was sealed.
On Friday, the federal court granted the U.S. government’s request to issue a protective order in the cases against Zhao, Beilida Overseas president Hui Lu, and Beilida’s Wencai Guo, Xiufang Qi, and Hongwei Ma.
The indictment had charged Zhao with harboring illegal aliens.
A separate indictment charged Lu, Guo, Qi, and Ma with harboring illegal aliens.
According to the indictment, beginning on Aug. 1, 2016, and 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.
Hu, a Chinese national, was killed after falling from a scaffold at the construction site of the Imperial Pacific casino and resort project last March 22.
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.
