Imperial Pacific re-designates Judge Sullivan

Hong Kong-listed Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited announced the re-designation on Friday of retired federal Judge Eugene Raymond Sullivan from Independent Non-executive Director to Non-executive Director, with effect from the day of announcement.
Judge Sullivan has also been appointed a Compliance Committee Member for the company. According to the company’s filing posted with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Judge Sullivan’s role as Non-executive Director will span one year and will automatically renew for successive terms of one year upon its expiration, subject to a mandatory retirement by rotation ‘at least once every three years,’ according to the company filing.
The Judge acted as a federal Judge under former United States President Ronald Reagan, and as Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Services under former President George W. Bush.
In November, Imperial Pacific denied it had received any notification suggesting it was under investigation by U.S. federal authorities regarding cash flows in the casino, following a Bloomberg article stating that the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ‘has taken notice of activities at Best Sunshine’. Best Sunshine is a subsidiary of Imperial Pacific and operator of the group’s temporary casino in Saipan.
Moody’s has since put the group under review for a possible downgrade in its credit rating, and Bloomberg in December wrote that the bond the group was planning to use for funding construction of its new US$7 billion casino property was ‘off the table for now’ due to not offering a high enough yield to investors given potential fluctuations in the island’s gaming regulations.