Cui Lijie
Chinese billionaire businesswoman From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cui Lijie (Chinese: 崔丽杰; pinyin: Cuī Lìjié; born c. 1959) is a Chinese billionaire businesswoman, Hong Kong citizen, and majority owner of Imperial Pacific.[1][2]
Cui Lijie | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1959 (age 65–66) Harbin, Heilongjiang, China |
| Citizenship | Hong Kong |
| Occupation | Businesswoman |
| Board member of | Imperial Pacific |
| Children | 1 |
Background
Originally from Harbin, Heilongjiang, China, she is a former barefoot doctor who worked in the countryside.[2] In 1988, she invested in an auto parts and equipment factory serving a military school in Harbin.[3][2] She later invested in pawnshop lending and real estate.[4]
Career
Summarize
Perspective
She and her son Ji Xiaobo (纪晓波) became involved in the Macau casino junket business in 2009 through a company called Heng Sheng.[4] In September 2013, Cui Lijie's company Inventive Star Limited acquired a publicly-listed Hong Kong company called First Natural Foods after its founder had been accused of embezzlement.[4][5] In December 2013, First Natural Foods acquired Heng Sheng for HK$400 million.[6] In 2014, First Natural Foods was renamed Imperial Pacific.[4][7]
Cui Lijie remains the majority beneficial owner of Imperial Pacific, which owns an exclusive casino license for Saipan and a $600 million beachfront hotel.[1][8][9] Her son has been described as the "mastermind" of Imperial Pacific's casino in Saipan.[10][7][11]
Casino controversies
In 2017, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided the construction site of Imperial Pacific's casino in Saipan over a "federal violation of the workplace visa system" following the death of a construction worker in March 2017.[12][13][14] Construction workers from a subsidiary of state-owned China Metallurgical Group Corporation were unlawfully employed on the island to build the casino.[15] In April 2017, Bloomberg News reported that the United States Department of Justice was investigating Imperial Pacific for money laundering.[15] The FBI executed search warrants on Imperial Pacific's offices in Saipan again in March 2018.[16]
In April 2019, the United States Department of Labor secured a $3.3 million judgment against Imperial Pacific for wage and overtime violations.[17] In September 2019, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against Imperial Pacific for sexual harassment and discrimination.[18]
In November 2019, the FBI raided the offices of Imperial Pacific for evidence of money laundering and wire fraud, and a federal grand jury subpoenaed the company regarding a corruption probe involving links with Northern Mariana Islands governor Ralph Torres.[19][20][21]
In March 2020, Imperial Pacific disclosed that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network was probing it for possible violations of the Bank Secrecy Act.[22] In June 2020, the Commonwealth Casino Commission of the Northern Mariana Islands announced that it was seeking to suspend Imperial Pacific's casino license for non-payment of money owed to a community benefit fund.[23]
See also
References
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