Mother of Taiwanese movie star Pace Wu’s billionaire boyfriend arrested in US

Lijie Cui was arrested last Tuesday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has not released details of the case or confirmed when she will appear in court. She is currently being held at a Department of Corrections facility in Susupe village on Saipan, part of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory in the western Pacific.

Local news outlet Marianas Variety said Cui is a Chinese national and a key figure behind a luxury casino on Saipan. She holds a controlling stake in Hong Kong-based Imperial Pacific International LLC, which owns the island’s only casino license.

Taiwanese actress and singer Pace Wu. Photo from Instagram/@pace_wu

Cui and her son Ji Xiaobo built their fortune through businesses transporting tourists to casinos in Macau, according to Newsweek. They invested in the Imperial Pacific Palace hotel and another beachfront property, with a combined value reported at US$600 billion.

The casino complex drew scrutiny after a 2018 Bloomberg investigation alleged the use of Chinese workers on tourist visas. Prosecutors said that in 2020, three executives from Imperial Pacific International and construction contractor MCC International Saipan were charged with offenses including employing illegal foreign workers and transferring more than $24 million to the US to bribe officials and support illegal activities.

The casino closed in March that year and filed for bankruptcy in April 2024, reporting debts of $165.8 million.

Forbes reported in 2018 that Cui had an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion. It described her son Ji Xiaobo, former chief executive of Macau casino tour operator Hengsheng Group, as the mastermind behind the Saipan project.

Ji Xiaobo and model Pace Wu lived together for 12 years without marrying and have four children. Wu currently lives in a luxury villa in Hong Kong and keeps her family life largely private. She is believed to maintain a wealthy lifestyle, traveling frequently and attending high-profile events, including a Taylor Swift concert earlier this year.

Sources said she occasionally sends the children abroad to visit their father. The public believes that remaining unmarried helped Wu separate her assets, including shares and property worth about 4 billion yuan ($560 million) gifted by Ji’s family.

Pace Wu was born in Taiwan to a mother of mixed American and Chinese heritage. She entered show business as a model and actress and was known as the "Taiwan Doll."

Before meeting Ji Xiaobo, she dated businessmen Samson Lee and Malaysian entrepreneur Peter Chen. Wu met Ji at a high-society party in 2012. The couple separated and reconciled several times before staying together.

She later left show business after giving birth to four children over six years. Wang Sicong, son of Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin, once publicly referred to Wu as a "single mother."

Ji Xiaobo, born in Hong Kong, is CEO of Hong Kong Ronghui Capital Co., Ltd., and a shareholder of Wynn Group in Macau. He has been linked to listed firms including Imperial Pacific and Tianxing International.

In 2017, his family invested in building the Imperial Palace Hotel in Saipan. Imperial Pacific’s financial reports show its revenue in 2018 rose 75.7% year on year to HK$13.16 billion (US$1.69 billion), with 96.7% coming from VIP casino tables.

Around 2020, as Saipan’s gambling industry declined, the casino’s revenue fell sharply, and Imperial Pacific incurred losses before becoming involved in legal disputes.