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Laos hires three more lawyers in case against Bridge Capital
Three lawyers from North Carolina-based law firm Parker Poe are joining as co-counsel of attorney William M. Fitzgerald for the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in the case against Saipan-based Bridge Capital LLC.
Attorneys John D. Branson, Eric H. Cottrell, and Chip Holmes have requested the U.S. District Court for the NMI to be admitted to practice as Fitzgerald’s co-counsels for Laos.
Branson, Cottrell, and Holmes, all members of Parker Poe law firm, said they have been retained by Laos in this case.
Parker Poe law firm provides legal counsel to large and commercial organizations. Its specialties are banking and finance, banking law, real estate, and commercial development.
Last June 12, Laos, through Fitzgerald, asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI to issue a subpoena against Saipan-based Bridge Capital LLC.
The subject of the subpoenas are Bridge Capital LLC, which owns shares of Sanum Investments Ltd. and is wholly owned by John Baldwin and Shawn Scott, and Bridge Capital’s chief financial officer, David Jensen.
U.S. District Court for the NMI designated judge David O. Carter set the hearing on the application for issuance of subpoenas for Nov. 17, 2015, at 9am.
Attorney Michael Dotts is counsel for Bridge Capital LLC, along with attorney Deborah Deitsch-Perez.
In Laos’ application, Fitzgerald disclosed that Baldwin, of Bridge Capital, is under criminal and tax investigations in Lao PDR for allegedly bribing Lao PDR officials of over $300,000 that caused the termination of an audit and cost the Lao government $70 million in lost tax revenue over a five-year period from the operations of Baldwin group’s casino.
Fitzgerald asked the federal court to allow Lao PDR to serve a subpoena on Bridge Capital on Saipan, and on Bridge Capital chief financial officer David Jensen, in connection with the criminal and tax investigations in Laos and in connection with two international arbitration proceedings pending in Singapore.
