Pacific island casino operator Settles U.S. anti-money-laundering case

The Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino has agreed to forfeit $3.04 million as part of a nonprosecution agreement—the largest forfeiture ever collected by the U.S. in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth, according to a Thursday statement from the federal government. A representative for the casino operator didn’t provide comment.

Last month, the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, levied a $75 million civil fine on the casino operator for what the agency called “willful and egregious” violations of anti-money-laundering rules uncovered by Internal Revenue Service investigators.

Tinian, an island located north of Guam and about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines, is part of the Northern Mariana Islands. Along with Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands is one of two commonwealths of the U.S.

The settlement comes as VIP junket operators from Macau—the Chinese casino capital whose gambling revenue has been in free fall the past year due to Beijing’s corruption crackdown—have grown increasingly interested in investing in the Northern Mariana

Islands. Tinian Dynasty has backing from Macau junkets, according to people familiar with its operations, and Macau junket operator Heng Sheng is investing in Hong Kong-listed Imperial Pacific International Holdings’ plans for a $7 billion casino project in Saipan, another island in the commonwealth.