Tinian Dynasty lawyer says US govt admits there was no criminal offense

The owner of Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino has asked the court to dismiss the 155 charges filed against the company, saying the U.S. government admits that there was no criminal offense.

Attorney Bruce Berline, counsel for Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas) Investment Ltd., asserted that counts 2-156 should be dismissed as the U.S. government concedes that incomplete preparation of a currency transaction report or CTR is not a criminal offense.

Berline said the U.S. government tries to negate the plain and express language of the second superseding indictment by claiming that counts 2-156 do not allege an offense of incomplete preparation. Specifically, the lawyer said, the U.S. government represents that counts 2-156 only charge “the offense of failure to file.”

“A review of the second superseding indictment shows otherwise,” he pointed out.

Berline said contrary to the U.S. government’s assertions, counts 2-156 do not only charge a failure to file CTRs, the counts include charges for the violation of incomplete preparation of the CTRs, which is not a criminal offense.

In May 2013, the U.S. government charged HKE with one count of conspiracy to cause a financial institution to fail to file a CTR, and eight counts of causing a financial institution to fail to file a CTR. The indictment also contained a forfeiture count.

In September 2014, the U.S. government filed a superseding indictment charging HKE with one count of conspiracy to cause a financial institution to fail to file a CTR and 155 counts of failure to file a CTR. It also contains one count of failure to file a suspicious activity report and one count of failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. It also has a notice of forfeiture.

In November 2014, the U.S. government filed a second superseding indictment which contains one count of conspiracy to cause a financial institution to fail to file a CTR, and 155 counts of failure to file a CTR (2-156). It also contains one count of failure to file a suspicious activity report, and one count of failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. It has a notice of forfeiture.

The initial indictment had charged HKE and then-VIP services manager George Que and then-casino manager Tim Blyth with only 10 charges.

According to the indictment, HKE allowed gamblers at Tinian Dynasty to conduct transactions involving more than $10,000 without filing 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.