Company says claims of torture, conspiracy only rely on lawyer’s unsworn allegations

Universal Group Development Inc. (Saipan) asserts that businessman Wanzhong Yu’s claims of torture and international conspiracy are without evidence and appear to rely solely on his lawyer’s unsworn allegations.

Universal Group, through counsel Samuel Mok, filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the NMI its opposition to Yu’s motion to dismiss Universal Group’s lawsuit and motion for joinder.

Mok stated that according to Yu’s attorney, Mark Scoggins, Yu was coerced into resigning his position as president of Universal Group as a result of torture by the Chinese government.

Mok said Yu was allegedly the victim of an international conspiracy wherein he was supposedly abducted during a trip to China by the Chinese government and indicted for fraud and embezzlement by a corrupt provincial prosecutor and sentenced to prison by a corrupt Chinese court.

Mok said Yu was allegedly subjected to physical torture for 22 months until he agreed to resign as president of a Saipan dumpling/grocery company and transfer his shares to a third-party.

Mok said Yu’s fantastical explanation for why he resigned as president and transferred his shares is devoid of any competent proof.

In fact, Mok said, Yu did not even provide a sworn declaration under penalties of perjury describing the specific facts underlying his alleged conspiracy theory, let alone any corroborating evidence.

“Instead, Yu appears to rely solely on the unsworn fact allegations made by his attorney to substantiate his claim of coercion even through Yu’s attorney does not have any personal knowledge of the purported abduction, torture or imprisonment being claimed,” he said.

Mok said Yu should not be allowed to maintain the fiction he is still president of Universal Group, given the fact that he has failed to offer any proof in support of his position.

On the joinder issue, Mok argued that Yu’s motion to join in the lawsuit two of Universal Group’s corporate officers Mingnan Jin and Jinwei Guo should be denied because the two officers are not necessary parties to this action.

Mok said it is unclear how either Jin and Guo can claim an interest to the $225,000 at issue as required by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Universal Group sued its alleged former president and shareholder, Yu, for conversion and First Hawaiian Bank for breach of contract.

Universal Group alleged that Yu and the bank have blocked the company from gaining access to $225,000 of its own funds from a business savings account.

Yu, through Scoggins, maintains that he is still president of the company and that he was detained in China for 22 months caused by political influence exerted by his former business partners.

First Hawaiian Bank has already asked the court to allow it to deposit with the clerk of court $224,558.71 in Universal Group’s savings account and to be discharged from the lawsuit.

Yu filed cross-claims against Jin and Guo for conversion, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, defamation, and trespassing.

Yu, through Scoggins, alleged that during his detention, his wife and daughter-in-law on Saipan were forced to sign several documents purporting to transfer all of his business property and personal belongings such as gold jewelry, diamonds, and precious stones, all worth over $300,000.