CCA Construction and the two other firms involved in the $1.6 billion judgement awarded to the Baha Mar resort and casino developer in the Bahamas have filed an opening brief for an appeal on the decision, claiming the court’s ruling was fundamentally flawed.
According to reports, the appeal claims that the court ignored key evidence demonstrating that the failure of the resort was due to mismanagement by BML Properties, rather than the defendants.
The appeal claims that BML engaged in overspending and bad decision-making, leading to its bankruptcy.
A spokesperson for the defendants noted that: “The fact that CCA Bahamas completed 97 percent of the project by the agreed deadline evidenced its good faith. The judgment suffers from numerous, significant legal errors and should be reversed in its entirety, as we believe it will be”.
The defendants claim that even if the resort had been 100 percent completed, that BML would not have been able to open the resort on time, claiming BML had admitted to “bombing” its own deliverables and that even if the resort had opened on time it would have operated at a loss for years.
The original developer of the Baha Mar casino was awarded the $1.6 billion after a US judge found that a contractor had committed “fraud beyond any doubt”.
Businessman Sarkis Izmirlian issued the suit against the CCA in 2017, claiming “massive fraud” which led to the collapse of the project in 2015.
The project was later sold to Hong Kong-based conglomerate Chow Tai Fook, a major investor in The Star Entertainment Group.