Tinian casino to close

Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno, gdumat-ol@guampdn.com11:20 p.m. ChST September 4, 2015

Two months after federal law enforcement fined Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino $75 million for failing to follow anti-money-laundering procedures, the business is closing down.

Wai Chan, chairman of Hong Kong Entertainment Overseas Investments, the company that owns the casino, wrote to the Tinian Mayor’s Office Sept. 1 stating “insufficient guest arrivals and negative cash flow (have) made it impossible to keep the property operational.”

The hotel and casino didn’t anticipate the losses suffered as a result of Typhoon Soudelor last month, Chan wrote.

The hotel and casino plans to shut down by the end of this month, effectively ending the existence of Tinian’s casino industry.

The 412-room hotel and casino opened in 1998, and described itself as a “five-star” hotel with a casino that’s “the first of its kind in the Western Pacific.”

Before Soudelor slammed Saipan and Tinian, Hong Kong Entertainment had been beset with legal troubles — both criminal and civil — in federal court.

On July 23, as it faced a federal trial in a criminal case, the company staved off prosecution by signing an agreement with federal prosecutors. In the agreement, the business agreed to forfeit $3 million from its bank accounts, cooperate with authorities in subsequent investigations and open its financial books for scrutiny.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which is under the U.S. Treasury Department, announced in June that it fined the casino.

The casino’s management “willfully facilitated suspicious transactions and even provided helpful hints for skirting and avoiding the laws in the U.S. and overseas,” Financial Crimes Enforcement Network stated. “Tinian Dynasty’s actions presented a real threat to the financial integrity of the region and the U.S. financial system.”

Tinian Dynasty argued that it wasn’t subject to federal currency transaction reporting, but a federal court shot that down.

Labor cases also have been filed against the casino in federal court.

http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2015/09/04/tinian-casino-close/71686134/

Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino refuses to cooperate with commission

 Renee Kingsley

 June 24, 2015

The Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino located on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) was hit with a record $75 million fine at the start of June 2015. The fine was imposed by the US Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) as the casino failed to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act and willing allowed customers to break the law.

Casinos have been used by criminals to conduct money laundering activities and FinCEN has been closely monitoring casinos to ensure that their money laundering policies are being implemented at all times. FinCEN found that the Tinian casino was the only casino in the Northern Marianas which continued to be non-compliant with the Tinian Gaming Act,

The Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino is owned by Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas) Investments Ltd, and majority shareholder, Mega Stars Overseas Ltd. Due to the casinos non-conformance the Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission decided to conduct detailed investigation into the casino’s process and procedures. The commission wanted to analyze how much money was coming into the casino, the source of those funds and where the money ended up going.

However, the owners of the Tinian casino choose not to cooperate with the commission and Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission Executive Director Lucia Blanco-Maratita said that because of this unwillingness to cooperate, they would have to shutdown the casino.

In a statement, Lucia Blanco-Maratita said “Unfortunately, the Tinian Dynasty has become a rogue casino. It allowed itself to be taken over by outsiders without the permission of the commission. Those same people refused to submit all the necessary documents required to complete their application so that they could be thoroughly investigated, to determine whether they are suitable, whether they are honest people who will run a clean casino. My job is to protect the public — to protect the people of Tinian. That is what needs to be done and what I am going to do.”

The casino has violated numerous laws and the commission has gone ahead and filed a complaint in the court of law against the casino. The hearing is expected to start in the month of July 2015. Lawyers representing the casino will have a tough case to fight as the US authorities had earlier conducted a sting by posing as casino players and collected incriminating evidence of how the casino violated money laundering policies.

http://news.worldcasinodirectory.com/tinian-dynasty-hotel-and-casino-refuses-to-cooperate-with-commission-9045

Casino Money Laundering at Tinian

August 21, 2014, 12:27 PM ET

Fincen Fines Former Casino Staffer Over AML Lapses

• By
• Rachel Louise Ensign

Wall Street Journal

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network fined a former casino staffer over anti-money laundering violations and barred him from working at financial institutions.



http://blogs.wsj.com/riskandcompliance/2014/08/21/fincen-fines-former-casino-staffer-over-anti-money-laundering-lapses/




Criminal Complaint Filed Against Tinian Casino And Two Men In Investigation Of Failure To File Currency Transaction Reports

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 25, 2013

ALICIA A. G. LIMTIACO, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the
Northern Mariana Islands, announced that a criminal complaint was filed against two individuals and a corporation on April 19, 2013. A copy of the unsealed complaint is attached. The complaint charges GEORGE QUE, TIM BLYTHE, and the entity known as HONG KONG ENTERTAINMENT (OVERSEAS) INVESTMENTS, LTD. dba TINIAN DYNASTY HOTEL & CASINO with conspiracy to cause a financial institution to fail to file currency transaction reports and causing a financial institution to fail to file currency transaction reports. The maximum sentence for each offense is imprisonment for not more than 10 years, a fine of not more than $500,000 for an individual, and a fine of not more than $1,000,000 for a corporation.
Federal law requires that a Currency Transaction Report (CTR) be filed with the IRS by financial institutions, including casinos, in regard to any currency transaction over $10,000.
According to the criminal complaint, beginning in or around September 2009 and continuing through the present, the TINIAN DYNASTY HOTEL & CASINO engaged in a pattern of accommodating gamblers in conducting transactions involving more than $10,000 without filing CTRs with the government. Defendants BLYTHE and QUE allegedly did not file any CTRs or cause anyone else to do so, despite their knowledge of the reporting requirement.
The criminal complaint alleges that in May 2012, IRS Criminal Investigation initiated an undercover operation concerning possible illegal activities at the TINIAN DYNASTY HOTEL & CASINO by having two agents pose as gamblers wishing to use large amounts of currency but not wanting any reports filed with the government about their use of cash. Between February 28, 2013, and March 4, 2013, HONG KONG ENTERTAINMENT (OVERSEAS) INVESTMENTS, LTD. dba TINIAN DYNASTY HOTEL & CASINO, GEORGE QUE, and TIM BLYTHE caused the TINIAN DYNASTY HOTEL & CASINO to fail to file required CTRs related to nine transactions involving undercover IRS agents. Each of these transactions, individually, exceeded the reporting threshold for CTRs.
The criminal complaint states that, upon conviction, HONG KONG ENTERTAINMENT (OVERSEAS) INVESTMENTS, LTD. dba TINIAN DYNASTY HOTEL & CASINO, GEORGE QUE, and TIM BLYTHE would forfeit their interest in two bank accounts held in Guam, two bank accounts held in Saipan, and in the TINIAN DYNASTY HOTEL & CASINO.
This Thursday morning, April 25, 2013, federal agents executed a federal search warrant on the TINIAN DYNASTY HOTEL & CASINO. In conjunction with the search warrant execution, QUE was arrested. Federal agents also executed warrants to seize property subject to forfeiture at the TINIAN DYNASTY HOTEL & CASINO, and its bank accounts.
QUE appeared in court this afternoon before Designated Judge Robert C. Naraja who ordered that he be released on conditions including verification of location monitoring at his residence by the U.S. Probation Office. An arrest warrant is outstanding for BLYTHE. Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court of the NMI issued a summons requiring the corporate representative of HONG KONG ENTERTAINMENT (OVERSEAS) INVESTMENTS, LTD. dba TINIAN DYNASTY HOTEL & CASINO to appear in court on May 3, 2013, at 9:00 a.m.
Kenneth J. Hines, Special Agent in Charge of IRS CI in the Pacific Northwest region said that, “Federal laws that regulate the reporting of financial transactions are in place to detect and stop illegal activities. IRS Criminal Investigation is committed to enforcing these laws and following the money, wherever it leads.”
“CTRs are important law enforcement tools for uncovering criminal activity. Individuals and financial institutions who seek to evade the federal reporting requirements will be pursued by the Department of Justice and its partners in federal law enforcement,” said U.S. Attorney Alicia A.G. Limtiaco.
The case is being investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the United States Marshals Service, and Homeland Security Investigations assisted IRS CI in the execution of the search warrant. The United States Coast Guard assisted in transporting the federal agents from Saipan to the TINIAN DYNASTY HOTEL & CASINO.
A criminal complaint is only a charge, and is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.


http://www.justice.gov/usao/gu/news/2013/04252013.html