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Dismissal sought in suit vs XTRA officials, others
The five businesses and 21 Chinese tourists who have filed a $50-million racketeering lawsuit in federal court against the owner and officials of XTRA Airways and several others now want to drop their complaint.
The plaintiffs, through lawyer Robert O’Connor, filed yesterday a notice of voluntary dismissal of their lawsuit before the U.S. District Court for the NMI.
O’Connor asked the court to dismiss the case without prejudice, which means the plaintiff may re-file the lawsuit in the future.
They accused XTRA Airways officials and others of allegedly engaging in a scam by pretending to participate in a plan to bring tourists from China to Saipan via charter aircraft, but deliberately sabotaged the plan by failing to take the steps necessary for it to succeed.
The five complaining businesses are Dream Pacific Aviation Services Hong Kong Ltd.; Evelyn U.S.A. Corp., owner of Impression Tour; Bright Investment LLC, owner of Saipan Restaurant; Rionda Co. Ltd., owner of New Shin Restaurant; and BW International, owner of BW Car Rental.
Eleven of the 21 Chinese are “stranded” tourists, while the rest are intending tourists who had booked and/or paid for flights on XTRA Airways charter flights from China to Saipan and back to China, according to the complaint.
The plaintiffs’ counsels are O’Connor and the Torres Brothers law firm.
The defendants are Frank J. Visconti, Nicolas Finazzo, and Andrew Lotter, who are all citizens and residents of Florida. They allegedly authorized and participated in the scam.
The defendants have denied the allegations.
Visconti was president and chief executive officer of XTRA Airways. Finazzo was a director of XTRA Airways and AerSale Inc. He was also chief executive officer of Aersale Inc. and a member of Aerline Holdings LLC. Lotter was chief operating officer and director of operations for XTRA Airways.
Also sued are TEM Enterprises Inc., AerSale Inc.; and AerLine Holdings LLC. The companies are all based in Coral Gables, Florida.
Sean Frink and Catherine J. Cachero of the Marianas Legal Strategy Group LLC serve as local counsels for the defendants’ lawyers, Matthew C. Dates and Andrea N. Nathan.
