In the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the operator behind the Imperial Palace Saipan integrated casino resort has reportedly filed lawsuits against 13 former customers in an attempt to recover approximately $12.9 million in unpaid debts.
According to a Wednesday report from the Saipan Tribune newspaper, Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited lodged its complaints with the American island territory’s Superior Court last week and is seeking to recoup individual arrears ranging from $59,945 to almost $3.1 million.
The newspaper reported that the 13 high rollers had collectively borrowed over $19 million during the course of 2016 and 2017 but have so far allegedly paid back only around $6.4 million. Hong Kong resident, Wenlong Cui, purportedly leads the way with Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited claiming that he has only reimbursed a little over $3 million of the $6.2 million he was loaned last year.
Catherine Cachero, a lawyer working on behalf of the Hong Kong-listed casino operator, reportedly told the Saipan Tribune that Cui took out a loan of $1 million in October before subsequently asking for this amount to be doubled. She stated that this advance featured a 24% annual interest rate while the high roller successfully applied for a second advance in November that was again increased to $4.2 million.
Imperial Pacific reportedly alleges in its complaint that Cui now owes $3,096,970 while fellow defendant, Jingxiong Liang, is also being sued in an attempt to recover around $1.7 million of a $3 million loan. The operator is moreover suing former customer, Kefeng Fan, for $796,000 of a $1 million advance alongside Yahong Guo, who is said to have paid back only $7,150 of a $500,000 loan.
The Saipan Tribune furthermore identified Chunwei Lin as allegedly still owing the casino operator $198,600 of a $1 million loan while reporting that fellow Chinese national Chuseng Chen remains in arrears to the tune of $59,945 from an identically-sized advance. The suits additionally name Zhiqi Chang as still to pay all but $41,912 of a $600,000 loan while defendants Tingquan Chen, Yongkuan Liu, Xiangzhao Kong, Zhong Shi, Jian Han and Minjin Jiang are alleged to have completely defaulted on advances ranging from $100,000 to $2 million.
The newspaper reported that this is not the first time that the company has been forced to go to court in an attempt to recover unpaid debts from its customers. The operator filed a similar claim last month against Las Vegas resident, Patrick Sun, amid allegations that he still owes $747,000 from a pair of loans that had totaled $2.3 million.
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