The Chinese conglomerate looking to buy the $3.5b Baha Mar resort is pushing back against allegations that it’s “unsuited” to do business in the Bahamas.

Late last week, word broke that Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE) was negotiating the purchase of the unfinished Baha Mar resort from its Chinese bank owners. On Sunday, Dionisio D’Aguilar, a former director of the project’s original developer, publicly accused CTFE of (among other things) having links to Chinese criminal organizations.

On Tuesday, the Bahamas Tribune published written responses from CTFE to D’Aguilar’s public broadside, which included a claim that CTFE had been denied gaming licenses in the United States. CTFE countered this claim by saying it “has never applied for a casino license in the US.”

CTFE is controlled by the family of the late Cheng Yu Tung, a Hong Kong billionaire who died in September at the age of 91. Cheng held a 10% stake in STDM, the parent company of Macau casino operator SJM Holdings – the likely source of D’Aguilar’s claims re failed US licensing.