Woman says man defrauded her in land deal, loan

A woman is suing a man for allegedly defrauding her of $8,000 on promises that he would let her lease his uncle’s vacant land in Garapan and repay his loan.

Yanqin Shao, a Chinese national, is suing Michael Benavente for fraud, violation of the CNMI’s Consumer Protection Act, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment.

Shao, through counsel Cong Nie, asked the Superior Court to hold Benavente liable to pay her compensatory, punitive, and liquidated damages, as well as attorney’s fees and court costs.

Saipan Tribune tried to obtain from Benavente but he has yet to respond as of press time.

According to Nie in the lawsuit, Benavente told Shao in September 2019 that he could obtain a 55-year lease on a parcel of vacant land in Garapan. Benavente allegedly told Shao that the property was owned by his uncle, and that his uncle was willing to lease it to Benavente. He allegedly claimed that his uncle would leave it up to him what to do with the property, including selling the lease. Benavente asked Shao if she would be interested in buying the lease of the property from him, and took Shao to see the land.

Nie said Benavente initially told Shao that the total price he wanted for selling the lease was $80,000.

Nie said that Benavente told Shao on Oct. 2, 2019, that if she wants to buy the lease, she needs to pay him a deposit of $1,000 toward the total price so that he would not sell it to someone else.

That same day, Shao paid Benavente a deposit of $1,000 in cash.

On Oct. 7, 2019, Benavente told Shao that if she could pay another cash deposit of $2,000 right away, then he would reduce the total price to $55,000. Shao paid Benavente the $2,000 that same day.

On Oct. 11, 2019, Benavente told Shao that if she could pay yet another cash deposit of $2,000 right away, then he would reduce the total price again, to $45,000. Shao did that again, paying Benavente $2,000 that same day.

Nie said that, upon information and belief, the owner of the land was not willing to lease the property to only Benavente for 55 years, and that Benavente had never even discussed leasing the property with the owner.

Nie said that Benavente misrepresented the owner’s willingness to lease the property solely to him, for the sole purpose of defrauding Shao.

After Shao had paid all three deposits, in the total amount of $5,000, Benavente allegedly started to give Shao various excuses about why the transaction had to be delayed.

On Oct. 17, 2019, Benavente informed Shao that he would go to her workplace to transfer the lease to her. According to Benavente, the owner of the property would sign a lease with him that day.

Later that same day, Benavente informed Shao that the owner’s wife was not on Saipan, but would come to the island on the Sunday of the same week to sign the lease, and so Shao must wait.

On Oct. 23, 2019, Benavente informed Shao that he was waiting for the owner to sign the lease, instead of the owner’s wife as he previously mentioned.

The next day, Oct. 24, Benavente messaged Shao, saying he had “very, very great good news.”

According to him, the signing and the transaction would be completed at 3pm the following day. Nie said that never happened.

On Oct. 29, 2019, Benavente messaged Shao to wait “a moment” because he and the owner would “sign and notary (sic) soon.”

Two days later, Oct. 31, Benavente told Shao that the owner needed a land survey and asked Shao to give money to him to pay for the land survey.

Nie said that, according to Benavente, once the land survey was done, the owner would lease the property to Benavente, and then he would sell the lease to Shao as promised. Shao did not pay the additional money, telling Benavente that he had to either make good on his promise to obtain and sell a 55-year lease of the property to her, or refund her deposits.

On Nov. 22, 2019, Benavente messaged Shao that his uncle would close the deal on Monday. When Monday came, Benavente told Shao to wait until Wednesday, one day before Thanksgiving. Nie said no signing occurred that Wednesday.

Benavente then allegedly told Shao that the owner had a heart attack, was admitted to the emergency room in the hospital on Saipan, and had not yet woken up.

Finally, on Nov. 27, 2019, Benavente allegedly told Shao that he would return all her deposits to her on Dec. 2, 2019.

Nie said that, as of the date of this complaint, Benavente has not yet returned any of the $5,000.

Shao said that Benavente also obtained a $3,000 loan from Shao. On Oct. 4, 2019, Benavente allegedly told Shao that he urgently needed money to buy a piece of real property and asked her to lend him $3,000. According to Benavente, once he bought the property, he could quickly sell it for a profit, and repay Shao.

Shao agreed and gave $3,000 in cash to Benavente on the same day.

Benavente promised to repay Shao within 10 days.

Nie said that Benavente has yet to repay the loan.