Court’s amended scheduling order clears path to trial in UMDA v Pfaff

Presiding Judge Robert C. Naraja of Saipan Superior Court issued an amended scheduling order on Jan. 8 in UMDA’s multi-million dollar lawsuit against Robert Pfaff, John Larson, and their associates, shell companies, and offshore trusts for damages suffered by UMDA and its shareholders over a 10-year period.

The order states that “In an attempt to prevent further delay in this case, the court has cleared its calendar from February 9, 2009 until February 27, 2009 to hear all pending motions in the case.” It goes on to say that “a status conference is scheduled for March 6, 2009 to jointly discuss a new scheduling order in this case.”

Jose Lifoifoi, chairman of the UMDA board of directors, said: “UMDA is very pleased that the court has rejected defendants’ delay tactics and set the case on track for trial later this year. It’s great news to us that all pending motions will be heard in February and that the court has made it crystal clear to the lawyers for Mr. Pfaff , Mr. Larson, and their many shell companies that the time for delay is over. The defendants will finally be forced to disclose the evidence they have been wrongly hiding for so long.”

Pfaff and Larson were convicted by a federal court in New York of multiple counts of tax evasion in December 2008 and Pfaff is facing another trial later this year under a second indictment charging him with misusing UMDA accounts and assets for personal gain.

Lifoifoi concluded: “UMDA has turned over countless documents showing how Mr. Pfaff and Mr. Larson hurt UMDA. Now, it’s high time that the people of Micronesia have their day in court and that these convicted criminals and their cronies are called to account for the harm that they have done to the shareholders of UMDA. Although the defendants have done their best to hide their ill-gotten gains away in family trusts and shell companies, I want to assure our shareholders that we will get to the bottom of their schemes and recover the money that rightly belongs to UMDA.”

UMDA was founded in 1966 in Saipan. Over the years, UMDA has been involved in a wide range of businesses, including airlines, cable systems, shipping, and resort properties. UMDA’s 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](UMDA)[/I][/B]