No IPI-CCC settlement yet

Sister companies Best Sunshine International Ltd. and Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC and the Commonwealth Casino Commission have yet to finalize a settlement agreement despite informing the U.S. District Court for the NMI earlier that one would be executed by July 18.

BSI, IPI, and CCC appeared before U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona Manglona last week to inform the court that their long-awaited settlement agreement is expected to be finalized and executed by July 18. However, according to a credible source, as of 7:30pm press time, no settlement has been executed yet as negotiations between the parties continue.

“We still need to finalize some terms,” said the source.
Last Tuesday, the parties involved told the court that their negotiations were “well-advanced” and that they expect to finalize and execute a settlement agreement by July 18.

Because of this, Manglona ordered the parties to notify the court yesterday once the agreement is finalized. She did say, though, that if the parties fail to finalize and execute a settlement agreement by yesterday, CCC must file an opposition to IPI and BSI’s motion for preliminary injunction by July 22. IPI, for its part, must file any reply by July 29.

In addition, Manglona said in the event a settlement agreement does not pull through by July 18, a hearing on the plaintiff’s motion is set for Thursday, Aug. 18, at 8:30am.

During last Tuesday’s hearing, IPI’s financier, IH Group, as represented by Kyu Nam Kim, told the court that a sufficient investment is underway to assure IPI’s ability to make the financial commitment required by the settlement agreement but she did not specify the amount IPI is expecting to receive.

In a previous court document, IPI informed the court that they were expecting a $150-million investment from IH Group.
Saipan Tribune learned from a credible source that IPI anticipates to receive the first $10 million of the investment by the end of June.

No reports have been made yet on these investments.

IPI previously filed a complaint against CCC and took out a temporary restraining order against the commission to prohibit it from moving forward with a hearing to revoke IPI’s exclusive casino commission.

According to court documents, IPI filed their complaint and emergency motion for a TRO last May 23. The court issued the TRO on May 23, ordering the CCC to cease and desist from proceeding with enforcement action 2021-001-005, including convening the enforcement hearing scheduled for May 24-25.

The parties appeared before the court for a status conference on May 25, where the defendants asked for more time to respond to IPI’s emergency motion.

Following the status conference, the court issued an order extending CCC’s deadline to file its opposition to IPI to May 31, with plaintiff’s reply due June 2.

Based on a stipulation by the parties filed on May 31, the court entered an order extending the TRO and granting the joint stipulated motion to stay briefing on IPI’s motion due to the parties’ significant progress toward a settlement.

According to the order, the court extended the TRO through July 8, and stayed the briefing on the plaintiffs’ complaint and emergency motion for TRO for a period of 30 days.