Former IPI chair Cui Li Jie in contempt of court for second time

The former Chairperson of Imperial Pacific International Holdings, Cui Li Jie, has been found in contempt of court and given just over a month to comply or face a stint in jail.

According to reports by Marianas Variety and Saipan Tribune, Cui was this week found in contempt for a second time by the US District Court for the NMI in relation to a case involving seven former construction workers on IPI’s Saipan integrated resort, Imperial Palace · Saipan. Those workers are currently seeking damages over alleged labor law violations and human trafficking.

Cui has already been found in contempt once before after the lawyer representing the workers accused her of a “pattern of obstructionist and disobedient behavior.”

Specifically, Cui was accused of having evaded service of and failing to respond to a subpoena, deleting WeChat data from her phone following a 4 March request to preserve her phone data, filing a declaration that her phone data had been preserved when a report showed it to be empty, claiming to have lost the SIM card she had been using since arriving in Saipan, and continuing to use the phone even after being issued with a preservation order on 31 March.

On Wednesday, the US District Court for the NMI gave Cui until 4 October to purge herself of contempt by providing her computer for a forensic copy to be made, filing an amended sworn statement within five days describing all ESI data, providing proof of purchase for a new rose gold iPhone and immediately providing all remaining SIM cards and to file a sworn statement from the vendor affirming the imaging of all devices are completed and preserved and affirming the WeChat account data was preserved.

Failure to comply will result in a daily US$1,000 fine and possible imprisonment.

The court found that Cui had “clearly and unambiguously” violated the court’s preservation order by continuously deleting WeChat messages despite being ordered not to do so, and for failing to inform the court of other electronic devices in her possession.

Cui, who holds a 60.69% stake in IPI, stepped down as Chairperson in June citing “personal time constraints.”