UMDA opposes ‘delay tactics’ by Pfaff defendants

Lawyers for the United Micronesia Development Association in a multi-million dollar lawsuit against a former UMDA director and his associates have filed an opposition to a recent attempt by defendants to question the scheduling order issued by Presiding Judge Robert C. Naraja on Dec. 9, 2008.

After over 18 months of court proceedings and in response to pre-trial statements submitted by all of the parties, the Saipan Superior Court issued an order that will lead to an August 2009 trial date. UMDA brought suit against defendants Robert Pfaff, John Larson and their associates in April 2007 to recover millions of dollars in harm inflicted upon UMDA and its shareholders over a 10-year period ending in 2006.

UMDA’s court filing on Jan. 5 provides a detailed rebuttal to the Pfaff defendants’ objection to the court’s scheduling order “and exposes the defendants’ continuing attempts to obstruct discovery, abuse the meet and confer process, and delay the trial for as long as possible,” according to a UMDA statement issued yesterday.

Jose Lifoifoi, chairman of the UMDA board of directors, said: “Defendants are doing everything in their power to delay their day of reckoning with the people of Micronesia. The lawyers for these convicted criminals and their cronies have been dragging their feet for almost two years, so it’s no surprise that they’re offering more excuses now.”

Pfaff and Larson were convicted by a federal court in New York of multiple counts of tax evasion in December 2008. Pfaff is facing another trial later this year under a second indictment charging him with misusing UMDA accounts and assets for personal gain. UMDA obtained a preliminary injunction from the court in November 2007 to prevent defendants from removing over $6 million from the court’s jurisdiction that rightly belongs to UMDA.

Lifoifoi said” “I want both Mr. Pfaff and Mr. Larson to know that ‘they can run, but they can’t hide.’ I want them to know that we’re not going to let them get away with the ‘assault on Saipan’ that Mr. Larson talked about to his lawyers before this case started. We are doing everything we can to recover the money rightfully belonging to UMDA shareholders that’s been hidden away in tax shelters, offshore entities and shell companies all over the world. After years of deception, the truth is finally coming out.”

In the pending action in the CNMI Superior Court, UMDA has sued Pfaff and Larson as well as several of their affiliates, including Rothschild Trust (Guernsey) LTD., Davina, G.E.T. Realty Trust, Laramie Fealty LLC, Concorde Trust and others.

UMDA was founded in 1966 in Saipan. Its shareholders include the government or governmental 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, a 313-room luxury hotel in Saipan. [B][I](PR)[/I][/B]