OTHER NEWS - Jan. 13, 1992

Japanese Firm Denied Casino License: The Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission has rejected an application for a hotel and casino license by a Japanese developer that investigators alleged was a front for Japan’s largest organized crime group, citing the company’s weak finances but not ruling on its purported criminal ties. The applicant, ASA Development & Investment Corp. of Tokyo, attempted to withdraw its application after testimony in three days of hearings revealed that the company’s principals had claimed over-inflated assets and were not financially capable of undertaking the proposed $300-million project, commission investigator Frederic E. Gushin said. Tinian is a tiny island off Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.