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U.S. Treasury has right to regulate CNMI casinos


The U.S. Department of the Treasury has the right to regulate casinos in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands under authority granted by the U.S. Congress, a local judge ruled.

U.S. District Court of the NMI Chief Judge Ramon Manglona was cited as saying in the Saipan Tribune newspaper that the U.S. Treasury has the authority to enact regulations to prevent money laundering by casinos licensed on the islands.  

Manglona’s comments followed an attempt Hong Kong Entertainment, the owner of the Tinian Dynasty casino, to dismiss an indictment against the company on the grounds that the U.S. did not have jurisdiction in the CNMI.

The U.S. government filed 158 criminal charges against Hong Kong Entertainment, in November last year.

The charges are one count of conspiracy to cause a financial institution to fail to file a currency transaction report or CTR, 155 counts of failure to file a CTR, one count of failure to file a suspicious activity report, and one count of failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. The indictment has also a notice of forfeiture, the report said.

A lawyer for the company argued the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino is licensed under the laws of the CNMI, which is not one of the 50 U.S. states. The CNMI are part of the commonwealth of the U.S.

In denying HKE’s motion to dismiss, Manglona pointed out that from its inception in 1970, the Bank Secrecy Act granted the Treasury Secretary authority to expand the term “United States” to include “the possessions of the United States.”

 

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