UMDA president slams ex-UMDA director

United Micronesia Development Association Inc. president and chief executive officer Russell K. Snow Jr. yesterday slammed former UMDA director attorney Robert Pfaff for allegedly making another shell company to make baseless accusations against UMDA.

“After all the damage that has been done to the shareholders of UMDA by Pfaff and his associates over the past 10 years, I find it amazing that they have the nerve to create yet another shell company to make baseless accusations and brazenly take another run at the proceeds from the LaoLao golf course sale,” said Snow in a press statement.

Snow said that last Friday, Superior Court associate judge Juan T. Lizama issued a written order in the UMDA’s lawsuit against Pfaff and a number of associates and corporate entities.

The UMDA president and CEO said that Lizama, based on the evidence presented, found that “it is clear that some wrongdoing occurred” and that the lawsuit alleging fraud, misappropriation of funds and breach of duty, among other charges, should proceed.

Three days later, Snow said, a previously known entity called Laramie Fealty LLC, as trustee of G.E.T. Realty Trust, filed a lawsuit against UMDA and some of its directors, in the Superior Court.

G.E.T. is one of the corporate entities named as defendant in the UMDA’s lawsuit.

Attorneys Colin T. Thompson and John P. Pierce, counsel for Laramie Fealty LLC, requested the court to take control of the UMDA LaoLao LLC’s funds and order an accounting on the status of the funds, among other things.

Snow said that Laramie’s lawsuit has asked the court to believe that Pfaff and his associates are innocent victims of UMDA’s plot to abscond with the proceeds from the sale of the LaoLao golf property.

The UMDA president cited that on March 19, 2008, Pfaff, who has been under a criminal tax indictment in New York for several years, was the subject of a new criminal indictment brought by the U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York that involves his activities while an UMDA director.

“We sued Mr. Pfaff and his associates in the first place to keep them from taking the LaoLao money, which is currently being held under the stewardship of the Superior Court. The court will decide who is entitled to the proceeds from the LaoLao sale,” he said.

Snow said he sees the claim filed by Laramie Trust “as an unsophisticated attempt to divert attention from the wrongdoing of Mr. Pfaff and his cronies.”

“These are meritless claims which I am confident will be addressed and resolved in the course of the litigation,” he added.

Founded in 1966, UMDA has been involved in businesses that include airlines, cable systems, and resort properties. Its shareholders include the government or government entities of the CNMI, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and thousands of individual Micronesians and their families.

In December 2007, UMDA announced the purchase from JAL Group of the Hotel Nikko Saipan. [B][I](Ferdie de la Torre)[/I][/B]