Cui is found in contempt again

Cui Li Jie

The U.S. District Court for the NMI has found former Imperial Pacific International Holdings Ltd. chair Cui Li Jie in contempt of court again in the case filed by seven former construction workers and was mandated to take certain actions to purge herself of contempt. Failing that, she faces not just a possible penalty of $1,000 per day but even possible imprisonment.

During a court hearing yesterday, U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona Manglona found Cui in contempt for “clearly and unambiguously” violating the court’s preservation order by continuously deleting WeChat messages despite previous court orders not to, and for failing to inform the court of a personal laptop, a Samsung phone she previously owned, and an email address she used.

“Specifically, the court found that Cui blatantly disregarded the court’s order by continuously deleting her WeChat messages even though the court’s preservation order required that she preserve all ESI data,” Manglona said.

“Cui failed to identify that she had a personal computer, previously owned a Samsung phone between March 26, 2020 and March 31, 2021, and had an email address that she used—all in clear disregard of the court’s order,” Manglona added

In order to purge herself of contempt, Manglona ordered Cui to provide her computer for a forensic copy to be made, file an amended sworn statement within five days describing all ESI data, to provide proof of purchase for her rose gold iPhone that was recently brought to the court’s attention, and to immediately provide all remaining SIM cards and to file a sworn statement from the vendor affirming the imaging of all devices are completed and preserved and affirming the WeChat account data was preserved within two weeks following the hearing.

Manglona warned Cui that she faces daily sanctions and even possible imprisonment if she continues her pattern of noncompliance with court orders.

“Failure to comply with the court’s order by these deadlines will result in sanctions of $1,000 per day to be paid to this court until the court’s order is fully complied with. Continued failure may result in further sanctions, including imprisonment,” she said.

In addition, the court granted the plaintiffs’ request for Cui to pay attorney’s fees and cost.

Manglona set a status conference on the matter for Oct. 4 at 8:30am. However, the hearing will be vacated if the court’s order is complied with.

Cui used to chair Imperial Pacific International Holdings Ltd., the parent company of Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC that is building the casino resort in Garapan.

According to court documents, Manglona first found Cui in contempt on Feb. 23 this year for disobeying the court’s discovery orders.

The plaintiffs had made an oral request that Cui preserve the data on her mobile phone. On March 31, the court granted the plaintiffs’ motion and issued an amended order directing Cui to identify and preserve all data she had used or created since March 26, 2020.

The seven plaintiffs in the lawsuit—Tianming Wang, Dong Han, Yongjun Meng, Liangcai Sun, Youli Wang, Qingchun Xu, and Duxin Yan—initially filed a complaint against Gold Mantis Construction Decoration (CNMI) in December 2018. They later amended their complaint in March 2019 to include MCC International Saipan Ltd. Co. and IPI as defendants. The plaintiffs also added an allegation of forced labor under the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.

Representing Cui yesterday were lawyers David Lujan and Joey San Nicolas, while Michael Dotts was present for Imperial Pacific International.  Meanwhile, Aaron Halegua and Bruce Berline were present to represent the plaintiffs.