The final ruling that the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) needed to remove Imperial Pacific International (IPI) may have just arrived. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has issued a ruling on the fledgling casino operator in Saipan, and the result opens up a lot of possibilities.
IPI promised the CNMI the world with its Imperial Palace casino, but fell way short of keeping its promise. It began running into legal and financial troubles that included hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid bills and visits by the FBI. Accusations of human smuggling, sexual harassment, and money laundering permeated the resort.
Then, COVID-19 arrived and caused more problems. The casino has been closed for four years, which IPI said was because of the pandemic. It used that as an excuse in its fight with the CNMI to retain its exclusive gaming license. But that excuse didn’t impress the appeals court judges.
IPI promised the CNMI the world with its Imperial Palace casino, but fell way short of keeping its promise. It began running into legal and financial troubles that included hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid bills and visits by the FBI. Accusations of human smuggling, sexual harassment, and money laundering permeated the resort.
Then, COVID-19 arrived and caused more problems. The casino has been closed for four years, which IPI said was because of the pandemic. It used that as an excuse in its fight with the CNMI to retain its exclusive gaming license. But that excuse didn’t impress the appeals court judges.