{"id":18960,"date":"2021-06-14T14:39:59","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T14:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=18960"},"modified":"2026-04-23T18:35:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:35:23","slug":"war-of-words-over-legal-advice-for-former-ipi-chairwoman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/war-of-words-over-legal-advice-for-former-ipi-chairwoman","title":{"rendered":"War of words over legal advice for former IPI chairwoman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cui Li Jie&#8217;s former lawyer, Juan T. Lizama, has said that John Mo Shi Jian, a former Macau law professor, was giving the former IPI chairwoman bad advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Northern Mariana Islands.- In a new chapter in one of the lawsuits faced by&nbsp;<strong>Imperial Pacific International<\/strong> (IPI), blows have been traded over the legal advice given to former IPI chairwoman Cui Li Jie<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">IPI faces a lawsuit brought by <strong>seven construction workers who accuse the casino operator of labour abuse&nbsp;<\/strong>and human trafficking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cui Li Jie<\/strong> had said that<strong>&nbsp;she was poorly represented in court by her lawyer<\/strong>, Juan T. Lizama. However, in an email disclosed in federal court, Lizama says that <strong>John Mo Shi Jian<\/strong>, a former University of Macau law professor,&nbsp;<strong>was giving Cui Li Jie bad advice<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lizama stated: &#8220;Johnny Mo may be a law professor, but&nbsp;<strong>he has bad common sense.<\/strong>&nbsp;He is all for himself.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Juan T. Lizama stepped aside from representing Cui Li Jie<\/strong>&nbsp;after the former IPI chairwoman said he had represented her poorly in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/imperial-pacific-chairwoman-resigns\">Cui Li Jie<\/a>\u00a0resigned from her post at IPI in early June due to \u201cpersonal time constraints&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to The Guam Daily Post,&nbsp;<strong>attorney Aaron Halegua<\/strong>, who represents seven Chinese construction workers who have sued IPI, said Cui\u2019s explanation \u201cis<strong>&nbsp;unlikely to absolve her from a finding of civil contempt<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Halegua added: \u201cAttempt to<strong>&nbsp;place all blame on Mr. Lizama falls flat&nbsp;<\/strong>due to her own pattern of obstructionist and disobedient behaviour.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhile<strong>&nbsp;Ms. Cui&nbsp;<\/strong>states that she has \u2018been honest and cooperative in complying with the court\u2019s orders and requests of the plaintiffs,\u2019&nbsp;<strong>this assertion is contradicted by the record&nbsp;<\/strong>in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/imperial-pacific-faces-indefinite-gaming-licence-suspension\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">IPI\u2019s gaming licence<\/a>&nbsp;has been&nbsp;<strong>suspended indefinitely&nbsp;<\/strong>as the operator failed to comply with regulatory orders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cui Li Jie&#8217;s former lawyer, Juan T. Lizama, has said that John Mo Shi Jian, a former Macau law professor, was giving the former IPI chairwoman bad advice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Imperial Pacific International (IPI) faces ongoing legal challenges, including a lawsuit for labor abuse and human trafficking, alongside internal disputes regarding legal counsel for former chairwoman Cui Li Jie. The operator's gaming license has been indefinitely suspended due to persistent non-compliance with regulatory orders, highlighting significant governance and operational risks.","focusai_entities":"Cui Li Jie, Juan T. Lizama, John Mo Shi Jian, Imperial Pacific International (IPI), University of Macau, Aaron Halegua","focusai_location":"Northern Mariana Islands, Macau","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"IPI License Status?","query":"What are the specific regulatory orders Imperial Pacific International (IPI) failed to comply with, leading to the indefinite suspension of its gaming license?"},{"label":"IPI Operational Impact?","query":"What is the current operational status of IPI's casino in the Northern Mariana Islands following the indefinite license suspension and ongoing legal challenges?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,157],"tags":[14213],"class_list":["post-18960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-business-news","tag-imperial-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18960"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18997,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18960\/revisions\/18997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}