Cui Lijie
Chinese billionaire businesswoman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cui Lijie (Chinese: 崔丽杰; pinyin: Cuī Lìjié; born c. 1959) is a Chinese billionaire businesswoman, Hong Kong citizen, and majority owner of Imperial Pacific.[1][2] Lijie resides in Saipan.[3]
Cui Lijie | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1959 (age 66–67) Harbin, Heilongjiang, China |
| Citizenship | Hong Kong |
| Occupation | Businesswoman |
| Board member of | Imperial Pacific |
| Children | 1 |
Background
Originally from Harbin, Heilongjiang, China, she is a former barefoot doctor who worked in the countryside.[2] In 1988, she invested in an auto parts and equipment factory serving a military school in Harbin.[4][2] She later invested in pawnshop lending and real estate.[5]
Career
She and her son Ji Xiaobo (Chinese: 纪晓波) became involved in the Macau casino junket business in 2009 through a company called Heng Sheng.[5] In September 2013, Cui Lijie's company Inventive Star Limited acquired a publicly listed Hong Kong company called First Natural Foods after its founder had been accused of embezzlement.[5][6] In December 2013, First Natural Foods acquired Heng Sheng for HK$400 million.[7] In 2014, First Natural Foods was renamed Imperial Pacific.[5][8]
Cui Lijie remains the majority beneficial owner of Imperial Pacific, which owns an exclusive casino license for Saipan and a $600 million beachfront hotel.[1][9][10] Her son has been described as the "mastermind" of Imperial Pacific's casino in Saipan.[11][8][12]
On January 13, 2026, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Cui Lijie for alleged violations of immigration law.[13][14]
Casino controversies
In 2017, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided the construction site of Imperial Pacific's casino in Saipan over a "federal violation of the workplace visa system" following the death of a construction worker in March 2017.[15][16][17] Construction workers from a subsidiary of state-owned China Metallurgical Group Corporation were unlawfully employed on the island to build the casino.[18] In April 2017, Bloomberg News reported that the United States Department of Justice was investigating Imperial Pacific for money laundering.[18] The FBI executed search warrants on Imperial Pacific's offices in Saipan again in March 2018.[19]
In April 2019, the United States Department of Labor secured a $3.3 million judgment against Imperial Pacific for wage and overtime violations.[20] In September 2019, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against Imperial Pacific for sexual harassment and discrimination.[21]
In November 2019, the FBI raided the offices of Imperial Pacific for evidence of money laundering and wire fraud, and a federal grand jury subpoenaed the company regarding a corruption probe involving links with Northern Mariana Islands governor Ralph Torres.[22][23][24]
In March 2020, Imperial Pacific disclosed that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network was probing it for possible violations of the Bank Secrecy Act.[25] In June 2020, the Commonwealth Casino Commission of the Northern Mariana Islands announced that it was seeking to suspend Imperial Pacific's casino license for non-payment of money owed to a community benefit fund.[26]