Manhunt for Palmer launched -Ex-gaming official created fictitious firms to defraud TCGCC and a license seeker

Federal authorities have launched a manhunt for a former official of the Tinian Gaming Control Commission (TGCC) who has been indicted for several fraud charges.

Federal Judge Alex Munson has issued a warrant of arrest for Paul Palmer, former executive director of TGCC, who had allegedly swindled the gaming commission and an Australian company by creating fictitious companies which maintained bank accounts in the Philippines and Nevada.

Palmer was charged with nine counts of wire fraud, mail fraud and interstate transportation of stolen properties. He was indicted on Aug. 5, but the case was sealed pending his arrest.

Asst. US Atty. Kevin Seely, who is prosecuting the case, moved to have the case opened up because “law enforcement agents no longer believe that keeping this matter sealed will aid in their ongoing efforts to locate the defendant.”

Palmer left the Commonwealth after his last attendance at a 1997 Senate committee hearing which investigated TGCC for illegal disbursement of funds.

FBI investigation disclosed that when he was executive director of the gaming commission, Palmer “did devise a scheme and plan to defraud TGCC and its casino license applicants. . .to enrich himself.”

It was discovered that on July 5, 1996, Palmer faxed a letter to certain attorneys in Hongkong and China, in which he mentioned the creation of a company called “Penington Trust.” He identified himself in the letter as “T. Richard Penington.”

In the same fax letter, Palmer misrepresented TGCC as a client of the fictitious Penington Trust.

Three days after sending the letter, Palmer “falsely represented” to TGCC that the commission owed $20,000 to Penington Trust “for professional services rendered,” and that the payment should be made to the Union Bank of the Philippines.

He then drew $20,000 from the TGCC funds and, through JCT Remittance Plus, wired it to the Philippine bank to be deposited in the account of the fictitious “RT Penington.”

In July 1997, according to court documents, Palmer swindled the Australian-based company Aristocrat Leisure Industries Ply Ltd. (ALI) by employing another scheme.

ALI filed an application with TGCC for a casino service license that would allow it to sell slot machines to Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino, which at that time had not yet been constructed.

Palmer told ALI that its license application required a deposit of $250,000 representing “investigation fee.”

Palmer later wired $250,000 to an account in Northwest Bank in Reno, Nevada.

A fax letter from Nevada, purportedly signed with a fictitious name, reached ALI requesting a check worth $250,000, saying such amount was “already used on ALI’s behalf.”

Palmer told ALI that any unused portion would be transferred to Hongkong in trust for TGCC’s “lead investigation company Penington Universal.”

The unsuspecting company then transferred $100,000 to the “trust account” in July 1997.

Two months later, Palmer faxed another letter to ALI demanding an additional $100,000 “to allow TGCC to continue the investigation of ALI’s casino service license.”

Palmer “was subject to TGCC’s Code of Ethics and he owed his employer a general duty of honesty, integrity and faithfulness,” the indictment read.

During the hearing in December 1997, Palmer told the Senate committee on executive appointments and government investigations that a huge amount of money belonging to the gaming commission was stolen while they were on a business trip in the Philippines.”

In the same hearing, Palmer told the committee members that his family had been receiving death threats. He requested that he be allowed to relocated his family in the Philippines.

His request was granted and Palmer has since disappeared after that hearing. (MCM)