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Ex-Dynasty owner pleads not guilty to 158 charges
Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas) Investments Ltd., the former owner of Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino, has entered a not guilty plea to a superseding indictment that charged the company with 158 charges.
At an arraignment last week, attorney Bruce Berline appeared for Hong Kong Entertainment. Berline informed the court that he had received a copy of the superseding indictment and that he had discussed the document with his client.
Hong Kong Entertainment, through Berline, pleaded not guilty.
Berline asked for a postponement of the jury trial date, currently set for Oct. 27, 2014. Assistant U.S. attorney Marivic David did not object.
U.S. District Court for the NMI designated judge David O. Carter advised Berline and David to discuss postponing the trial date with U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona.
Carter presided over the hearing as Manglona was off-island last week.
The superseding indictment filed in court last Monday, Sept. 22, charged Hong Kong Entertainment with one count of conspiracy to cause a financial institution to fail to file a currency transaction report, 155 counts of failure to file currency transaction reports, one count of failure to file a suspicious activity report, and one count of failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program.
The original indictment charged Hong Kong Entertainment and then-VIP services manager George Que and then-casino manager Tim Blyth with only 10 charges.
According to the new indictment, Hong Kong Entertainment allowed gamblers at Tinian Dynasty to conduct transactions involving more than $10,000 without filing currency transaction reports, or CTRs, with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, from September 2009 to April 25, 2013.
Tinian Dynasty allegedly failed to file about 3,640 CTRs for cash transactions over $10,000 as required by law. The total dollar amount of reportable currency transactions that were not filed is about $1.38 million.
Que and Blyth had entered into a settlement deal with the U.S. government in exchange for the dismissal of the criminal charges against them.
