NASSAU, BAHAMAS — A trial date has been set in former Baha Mar developer Sarkis Izmirlian’s fraud case against the mega resort’s Chinese contractor.
A bench trial is scheduled in this case for August 1 – August 16, 2024. Izmirlian filed a $2.25 billion lawsuit six years ago alleging a “massive fraud” by Chinese state-backed contractor China Construction America (CCA) which drove the development to bankruptcy in 2015, led to Izmirlian’s ousting from the development and the loss of his multi-million equity investment. The resort was sold to its current owner Hong Kong conglomerate Chow Tai Fook Enterprises.
Izmirlian has asserted, among other claims that the resort’s main contractor had misrepresented that sufficient laborers and managers would remain working on the project to complete the project on time for the March 27, 2015 deadline, when in fact hundreds of Chinese workers left the project from December 2014. Izmirlian also contends that CCA failed to disclose conflicts of interest and payments and efforts to influence Bahamian government officials, their families, and associates.
Further, Izmirlian has claimed that the contractor intentionally engaged in work slowdowns or stoppages which prevented the project from opening to any paying guests on March 27, 2015, and contributed to BML’s liquidity crisis.