THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
OFFICE OF THE U.S. TRUSTEE
David C. Farmer, Successor Trustee
vs.
Bobby N. Harmon
(Formerly Mary Lou Woo vs. Harmon and James Nicholson vs. Harmon)
CV05-00030 DAE/KSC
United States District Court, District of Hawaii
Judges: David A. Ezra; Kevin S. Chang
~ ~ ~
DEFENDANT’S WITNESS
PAUL ALSTON
Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing, Attorneys At Law
American Savings Bank Tower
1001 Bishop Street, 18th Floor
Honolulu, HI 96813
E-mail: info@ahfi.com
Fax: 808-524-4591
Paul Alston is a founding partner of Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing; former associate of arbitrator Judith Neustadter Fuqua; attorney for reporters Jim Dooley of KITV News4 and Sally Apgar of the Honolulu Advertiser in defending against subpoenas served by Bishop Estate to recover documents given to them by Defendant (www.starbulletin.com/97/10/03/news/story2.html); attorney for YY Valley Corporation in the Maunawili Valley case; attorney for Outrigger Enterprises; attorney for Kaiser Permanente; attorney for American Savings Bank (subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries) a creditor in the underlying case); on Panel of Commercial Arbitrators, American Arbitration Association, and Dispute Prevention & Resolution, Inc.; Hearing Panel Member and Chairman, Office of Disciplinary Counsel, Supreme Court of Hawaii; Member, Committee on Foreign Relations; Special Deputy Attorney General, State of Hawaii for Governor George Ariyoshi, Governor John Waihee; attorney for Grove Farm; named in Steven Guttman’s letter dated June 21, 2004, to James Farris of the American Arbitration Association, as a person Defendant should be “barred from communicating with in any manner...” WHY?
From Findlaw:
Firm Profile:
Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing (AHFI) is known for providing high quality, fast, creative and cost-effective service....
Areas of Practice:
Banking & Finance
Business & Personal Injury Litigation
Education
Environmental & Cultural Resources
Government Affairs & Public Interest
Government Procurement & Federal Grant Compliance
Health Care
Labor & Employment
Life, Disability, & Erisa
Property & Business Transactions
Real Estate, Title, & Escrow
Representative Clients:
Kaiser Foundation Hospital
The Mitsui Trust & Banking Co., Ltd.
First American Title Insurance Company
Chicago Title Insurance Company
Kemper Real Estate Management Company
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Amfac/JMB (Hawaii)
The Prudential Locations Inc.
Coldwell Banker Commercial
Otis Elevator Company
Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc., and its affiliates
Hawaiian Cement
Hawaii Conference Foundation-United Church of Christ
Beta West
Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Company
Planned Parenthood of Hawaii, Inc.
First Charter Bank, N.A.
Bank of America, FSB
Wailea Resort Company, Ltd.
Sofos Realty Corporation
CUNA Mutual Investment Corporation
Koko Marina Shopping Center
Market Place at Coconut Plantation on Kauai
Temple Valley Shopping Center
Hawaii Kai Towne Center
Kalama Village Center
Executive Plaza I/II
Sheridan Ing Partners Hawaii
Monroe & Friedlander Management Corporation
Airport Associates, 1981
Aloha Towers
John Groark & Associates, Inc.
Kacor Realty, Inc.
Kaiser Aluminum Properties, Inc.
Kaiser Development Co.
Mauna Lani Terrace
Mililani Parkway
Pakalana
Schnabel Foundation Company
Sugar Beach
Alternatives to Violence
Cheap Tickets
Hale Kipa Youth Services
Hawaii Civil Rights Commission
Hawaii Foodbank, Inc.
Motorola, Inc.
Volcano Art Center
Waianae Coast Comprehensive Mental Health Clinic
A National Electrical Supply Firm
Local Independent Schools
A Large Multi-State Law Firm
CB Commercial Hawaii
Hawaii Kai Development Company
Hawaii Kai Executive Plaza I
Na Pali Haweo
Pearl Plantation Center
Thomas Hayes (Bankruptcy Trustee)
Home Financial Services, Inc.
George Isaacs/George Isaacs (Hawaii), Ltd.
Mokuleia Land Company
'Olelo: The Corporation For Community Television
Outrigger Hotels Hawaii
Royal Aloha Vacation Club
The Queens Health Systems
Victoria Group Limited
Commercial Union
Travelers
Aetna
Fireman's Fund
Ford
Volkswagen
Boeing
General Motors
General Electric
Eastman Chemical Company
Pittsburgh Corning Corp.
Georgia Pacific
Chevron U.S.A.
Eaton Corporation
Keene Corporation
Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company
Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation
Safeco Title Insurance Company
Stewart Title Guaranty Company
Security Union Title Insurance Company
TICOR
Title Insurance Company of Minnesota
Amana
A.H. Robins
On the landlord's side, we represent owners of several major shopping centers and commercial buildings. Our past and present clients include the managers and owners of the Koko Marina Shopping Center, the Market Place at Coconut Plantation on Kauai, Temple Valley Shopping Center, Hawaii Kai Towne Center, Kalama Village Center, Executive Plaza I/II (Kemper Real Estate Management Company, successor to Bedford Properties, Inc., and Hawaii Kai Development Company) and various commercial and industrial properties owned by Sheridan Ing Partners Hawaii and related entities. We also represent The Prudential Locations Inc., Property Management Division, and Monroe & Friedlander Management Corporation.
References:
First American Title Insurance Company
Hawaiian Cement
Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.
Thomas E. Hayes, Bankruptcy Trustee
Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp.
Kaiser Permanente Medical Group
The Mitsui Trust & Banking Co., Ltd.
Otis Elevator Company
The Prudential Locations Inc.
The Queen's Health Systems
ZKS Real Estate Partners (formerly Kemper Real Estate Management Co.)
http://pview.findlaw.com/view/2367354_1
* * * * *
“JOHN GOEMANS: CRUSADER FOR A COLOR-BLIND AMERICA”
~ o ~
No. 98-818
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Petitioner
v.
BENJAMIN J. CAYETANO, GOVERNOR OF
THE STATE OF HAWAI'I
Respondent
BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE
STATE COUNCIL OF HAWAIIAN HOMESTEAD
ASSOCIATION, HUI KAKO'O 'AINA
HO'OPULAPULA, KALAMA'ULA HOMESTEAD
ASSOCIATION AND HAWAIIAN HOMES
COMMISSION IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENT
Filed July 28, 1999
- - - - -
CONCLUSION
Amici respectfully request that the decision of the court
of appeals be affirmed.
DATED: Honolulu, Hawai'i, July 28, 1999.
William M. Tam
Counsel for Amici Curiae
David M. Forman
Co-counsel for State Council of
Hawaiian Homestead Associations
and Hui Käko'o 'Äina
Ho 'opulapula
Karen M. Holt
Co-counsel for Kalama 'ula
Homestead Association
JOHN GOEMANS: CRUSADER FOR A COLOR-BLIND AMERICA
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR PAUL ALSTON, ESQ.
* * * * *
NEW DISCOVERY (06-07-09): Re: Undisclosed relationships of Steve Goodfellow, Linda Lingle, Mufi Hannemann, Charmaine Tavares, Hawaiian Telcom, Eric Yeaman, Walter Dods, First Hawaiian Bank, Bishop Museum, Timothy Johns, Mark Polivka, Carlyle Group, Sandwich Isles Communications, Robert Kihune, Gil Tam, Bank of Hawaii, Paul Allaire, Lucent Technologies, Paul Alston, Judith Neustadter Fuqua, Carol Muranaka, David Farmer, Dan Inouye, Central Pacific Bank, Daniel Akaka, Neil Abercrombie, Norman Mineta, AIG, Aon, Colbert Matsumoto, Island Insurance Co., Roy Hughes, Colleen Hanabusa, Micah Kane, Larry Mehau, etc.
www.kycbs.net/Hawaiian-Telcom.htm
www.kycbs.net/SandwichIsles.htm
www.kycbs.net/Sandwich-Isles-Lucent-Maui-Co.pdf
http://www.bishopmuseum.org/images/pdf/Annual_report.pdf
www.buildingindustryhawaii.com/0903/BI039_FinanceBonding.pdf
www.hawaii.gov/gov/news/releases/2005/News_Item.2005-07-18.0029
http://www.ttsfo.com/sbcteis/feis/text/13.pdf
~ ~ ~
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Goodfellow Brothers, Inc. ▲. Grant Thornton Foundation .... Mr. & Mrs. Paul
D. Alston. American Council of Engineering. Companies of HI ...... Mr. Larry
Mehau. Mr. & Mrs. William J. Metzger. James K. Michishima, CPA ...
www.uhf.hawaii.edu/ROG/2007_Donor_Reg_List.pdf -
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (02-04-09): More undisclosed conflicts of interest between David Farmer, James Nicholson, Steven Guttman, Paul Alston, Judith Neustadter Fuqua, John Waihee, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Janet Reno, Alberto Gonzales, Michael Mukaseyl, Eric Holder, and other witnesses in this case:
June 26, 2008
Pardongate Is The Least of
Eric Holder’s Sins
© Jack Cashill, www.WorldNetDaily.com
“I was wondering when you were going to call me,” so said the irrepressible Nolanda Butler Hill when I phoned last week.
She knew precisely what item of news had prompted me to call: the revelation that Barack Obama had selected Clinton Deputy Attorney General and Ron Brown protege, Eric Holder, to help vet his vice presidential candidates.
As the confidante and business partner of the late Clinton Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, Hill knows from personal experience that Holder’s sins go well beyond his seamy role in the Marc Rich pardon scandal.
In the way of background, in May 1995, Clinton’s unpredictable Attorney General Janet Reno called for an independent counsel to assess whether Ron Brown had “accepted things of value” from Hill in exchange for his influence.
Reno’s pursuit of Brown did not shock either of them. He had been the subject of an inquiry for months. Targeting Hill, however, had no precedent, and it unnerved them both.
By statute, the independent counsel law applied only to political and government figures. “It was unlawful,” says Hill of her own targeting, “I was the only such person in history.”
In time, the independent counsel also targeted Brown’s son, Michael, for laundering money to his father through a scam minority set aside deal with a sleazy pair of Asian-American fundraisers. In Hill’s words, Michael “was as guilty as a goose.”
Hill and Brown both understood that she was being targeted in the hopes that she would roll over on Brown. Her condition for not doing so was that Brown share with her his every point of vulnerability.
Nowhere was Brown more vulnerable than in his unwelcome role as chief bagman for the Clintons’ relentless and often illicit fundraising in the run-up to the 1996 election.
Hill learned virtually every unseemly detail--from Brown’s go-between work with the Chicoms and their American vendors to his wholesale distribution of walking around money to Democratic race hustlers. As Brown understood, Hill knew way too much.
Even before his own mysterious death, Brown worried openly about her life and safety. He went so far as to call Hill’s sister, with whom she stayed from time to time, and insist Hill not be allowed to go out jogging alone.
As soon as Brown died, the independent counsel ceased the investigation into his illicit activities. As to Michael, he pled guilty to a single misdemeanor, accepted a small fine, and was out playing golf with the president a month later.
Not surprisingly, however, the Justice Department kept the pressure on the outspoken Hill, still deeply troubled by the circumstances surrounding Brown’s death.
Hill took heart when, in July 1997, President Clinton appointed Holder to replace Jamie Gorelick as Deputy Attorney General. Although ostensibly second in command, the Deputy AG was the real power in Justice, the Clinton equivalent of a Soviet “political officer.”
Hill knew Holder through Brown, who had been instrumental in getting him his previous job as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
She and her attorney wasted no time in contacting Holder at the American Bar Association Annual Meeting, which was held that year in San Francisco in early August.
Holder, however, did not get to be Deputy AG by being naïve. “The train is already going down the tracks,” he explained to Hill. “It will take your cooperation to stop it.”
The “train” in question was a D.C. grand jury, which was being led to indict Hill. The “cooperation” meant Hill keeping her mouth shut.
Hill clarifies, “He [Holder] told me and my attorney that if I told what I knew about election fundraising I would be indicted.”
Holder was as good as his word. On March 13, 1998, ten days before Hill was to testify in a suit brought by Judicial Watch on the subject of Brown’s fundraising, the Clinton Justice Department indicted Hill on trumped up charges of fraud and tax evasion.
The willfully blind lead of the New York Times called the indictment “a vivid example of how an investigation can outlive its target.”
Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch knew better. In a motion to the court, he would write, “The timing of these events is neither accidental nor coincidental. Ms. Hill’s indictment was likely an effort to retaliate against her and deter her from giving any further damaging testimony at the March 23, 1998 hearing.”
At White House bidding, Holder had Hill indicted to shut her up, and he succeeded. Anxious, alone, and broke, facing as many as seventy years in prison if convicted, Hill chose to negotiate a deal.
On June 15, 1999, a day before her fifty-fifth birthday, she reported to a halfway house in Seagoville, Texas, her silence at least temporarily assured.
As James Sanders, my partner on the TWA 800 investigation, can attest, silencing whistleblowers through bogus prosecution was the modus operandi in the Holder era. Sanders and his wife Elizabeth were indicted and convicted on federal conspiracy charges on Holder’s watch.
Although generally appalled by the Clintons, Hill understands how betrayed they must feel when their very proteges desert them for Obama.
Holder did so early on. “Given Holder’s credentials,” the Chicago Tribune reported breathlessly in August 2007, “it isn’t outside the realm of possibility to suggest he could wind up the nation’s first African-American attorney general should Obama win the White House.”
Hill thinks she knows why Holder jumped ship. He was a key player in a racially exclusive cabal of DC insiders. “He’s so racist it’s not even funny,” she says of Holder, “not only racist but elitist.”
Still, no matter how compromised Holder might be, Obama can ill afford to dismiss him from his vice-presidential selection committee.
Obama has already had to dismiss one of the three selectors. If he dismisses a second, it will become absurdly obvious that the real problem is not Holder or Jim Johnson of Countrywide fame, but Mr. Obama himself
http://www.cashill.com/natl_general/pardongate.htm
* * * * *
NEW DISCOVERY (11-30-08):
THE BEST GOVERNMENT MONEY CAN BUY
* * * * *
NEW DISCOVERY (10-29-08): New facts providing more evidence of undisclosed conflicts of interests between Judge Barry Kurren and his wife, Faye Kurren, Paul Alston, Rick Daysog, Eric Grant, John Goemans and other entities involved in this case:
October 29, 2008
Judge orders names be made
public in Hawaii school suit
BY RICK DAYSOG, Advertiser Staff Writer
The identities of four unnamed, non-Hawaiian students challenging Kamehameha Schools' admission policy must be made public in 10 days, a federal judge ruled yesterday.
In a 22-page order, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren said the public, as in other civil rights cases, has "a strong interest in knowing who is using the courts to vindicate their rights."
"The severity of the threatened harm and the reasonableness of plaintiffs' fears do not weigh in favor of anonymity," Kurren wrote. "At most, plaintiffs are vulnerable children who have a reasonable fear of social ostracization."
Kamehameha Schools spokeswoman Ann Botticelli said the schools appreciated the ruling, saying, "Judge Kurren obviously deliberated carefully on the matter."
David Rosen, one of the attorneys representing the students, declined comment yesterday.
Rosen and California attorney Eric Grant previously argued that the disclosure of the students' identities would expose them to public humiliation and retaliation.
Parents of the students — who are simply known as Jacob, Janet, Karl and Lisa Doe — have said in court papers that they may drop the lawsuit if the children are not allowed to pursue their lawsuit anonymously.
The Does, who are not of Hawaiian ancestry, applied for admission to Kamehameha in the 2008-09 school year, but were rejected.
Kurren's ruling came after a 1 1/2-hour, closed-door hearing on Oct. 21.
By issuing a 10-day stay to his ruling, he allowed the students and their parents to consider whether to continue pursuing the action.
The stay also allows the Does' attorneys to appeal the ruling to U.S. District Judge Michael Seabright, who is assigned to the case.
Founded by the 1884 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Kamehameha Schools is a charitable trust that educates children of native Hawaiian ancestry. The estate is the state's largest private landowner and is one of the nation's wealthiest trusts, with assets of more than $9 billion.
lawyers cite threats
In their court filings, Rosen and Grant cited anonymous threats posted on the Internet and hostile remarks attached to the comments sections of local news stories about the admissions controversy.
Grant and Rosen have noted that the threats were serious enough to prompt U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo in 2003 to issue a warning against anyone looking to harm another non-Hawaiian student, Brayden Mohica-Cummings, who was admitted to the school under a settlement agreement.
Kurren, however, ruled that Grant and Rosen didn't provide evidence of "any threat of physical or economic harm" against the Does.
Botticelli, the Kamehameha Schools spokeswoman, added that the trust's leadership "would never take any action that puts a child in danger."
"We would never engage in or condone any racial threats or actions, and we know our community wouldn't either," she said.
Adrian Kamali'i, a 2000 Kamehameha Schools graduate and president of the student-parent group Na Pua a Ke Ali'i Pauahi, said Kurren's ruling "levels the playing field."
Allowing the students and parents to pursue the lawsuit anonymously takes away any accountability and hides from the public "who is doing what and why," added Jan Dill, a 1961 graduate.
"I think it's tremendous that the judge has demanded transparency in a process that affects thousand of native Hawaiian children," Dill said. "People who take actions like this should stand up and take responsibility rather than hide behind confidentiality."
School hails ruling
Attorneys for the trust — Paul Alston and former Stanford University Law School Dean Kathleen Sullivan — said anonymity has allowed the students' lawyers to portray their clients in a sympathetic light, but gave the trust no means to say whether that portrayal is accurate.
They also noted that in the previous lawsuit challenging the school's admission policy, Grant's co-counsel John Goemans abused his client's anonymity by leaking the details of a confidential settlement.
In that suit, a separate John Doe sought to overturn the trust's Hawaiian-preference admission policy. The policy was upheld by the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and was headed to U.S. Supreme Court before it was settled.
The trust was able to save its admissions policy but ended up paying the student $7 million.
Beadie Dawson, a native Hawaiian attorney and former lawyer for Na Pua, said that given the stakes involved, she expects the Does to appeal Kurren's decision.
"They are looking for another damages settlement, a free hand-out," she said. "Giving them anonymity encourages others to file what I consider to be frivolous lawsuits."
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (08-15-08): Undisclosed conflicts of interests between Senator Dan Inouye, Senator Ted Stevens, VECO Corporation, George W. Bush, John McCain, Dick Cheney, Halliburton, Shell Oil, Barack Obama, Aloha Petroleum, James Ahloy, Chevron-Texaco, Mark Bennett, Linda Lingle, Tesoro Petroleum, Faye Kurren, Judge Barry Kurren, Enron, Goldman Sachs, Robert Rubin, Henry Paulson, Henry Peters, Paul Alston, etc.:
December 6, 1996
ENRON and Shell Win Bid in
Capitalization of YPFB's
Transportation Segment
LA PAZ, BOLIVIA – Enron Development Corp. and Shell International Gas Ltd. announced today that the government of Bolivia has named the companies the successful capitalizing company for the transportation segment of the state oil and gas company, Yacimientos Petroliferos...
Business Wire
~ ~ ~
March 30, 1998
The following is an excerpt from a 10-K SEC Filing, filed by TESORO PETROLEUM CORP /NEW/ on 3/30/1998:
ACCESS TO NEW MARKETS
A lack of market access has constrained natural gas production in Bolivia. With little internal gas demand, all of the Company's Bolivian natural gas production is sold under contract to the Bolivian government for export to Argentina.
Major developments in South America indicate that new markets will open for the Company's production. Construction of a new 1,900-mile pipeline that will link Bolivia's extensive gas reserves with markets in Brazil commenced in 1997 and is expected to be operational in early 1999.
The owners of the new pipeline include Petrobras (the Brazilian state oil company), other Brazilian investors, Enron Corp., Shell International Gas Ltd., British Gas PLC, El Paso Energy Corp., BHP, and Bolivian pension funds. When completed, the new pipeline will have a capacity of approximately 1 billion cubic feet ("Bcf") per day.
For more, see...
Citigroup: Vampires in the City
Vultures Up to their Necks in Tesoro Petroleum
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (07-12-08):
* * * * *
PAUL ALSTON PHOT0 GALLERY
* * * * *
NEW DISCOVERY - 06/14/08: DAVID FARMER’S UNDISCLOSED RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE DIAMOND HEAD THEATRE, JAMES MacARTHUR, THE MacARTHUR FOUNDATION, GOLDMAN SACHS, ROBERT RUBIN, BILL CLINTON, HENRY PAULSON, THE NATURE CONSERVANCY, FAYE KURREN, HAUNANI APOLIONA, KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS, WALLY CHIN, HENRY PETERS, BISHOP MUSEUM, ADELE SMITH SIMMONS, BRAD HEPPNER, MARSH & McLENNAN, JAMES WRISTON, JUNE JONES, JOE MOORE, JAMES NICHOLSON, RON REWALD, JUDGE REY GRAULTY, ETC....:
www.jamesmacarthur.com/TwentiethCentury/TwentiethCentury.shtml
http://starbulletin.com/1999/04/14/news/story1.html
www.kycbs.net/Bishop-Museum.htm
www.kycbs.net/ConnecticutConnection.htm
~ ~ ~
U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
TRUSTEE v HAYES
IN RE: BISHOP, BALDWIN, REWALD,
Hawaii corporation, Debtor. No. 95-16119
OFFICE OF THE U.S. TRUSTEE, 83-00381-MP
Appellant,
v.
Appellee.
IN RE: BISHOP, BALDWIN, REWALD, DILLINGHAM & WONG, INC.,
a Hawaii corporation, Debtor.
No. 95-16776
OFFICE OF THE U.S. TRUSTEE, Appellant
v.
THOMAS HAYES; REYNALDO D. GRAULTY, Trustee,
Chapter 7 Trustee; HONOLULU PROFESSIONAL
SERVICES; BANKRUPTCY TRUSTEE,
Appellees.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii Martin Pence, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted November 4, 1996--Honolulu, Hawaii
Filed January 13, 1997
Before: J. Clifford Wallace, Mary M. Schroeder, and Arthur A. Alarcon, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam Opinion
COUNSEL
Kathleen Dunivin Schmitt, United States Department of Justice, Executive Office for United States Trustees, Washington, D.C., for the appellant.
James F. Evers, Wagner, Watson & Pettit, Honolulu, Hawaii, for appellees Graulty, as trustee, and Wagner, Watson & Pettit.
Stanley E. Levin, Davis & Levin, Honolulu, Hawaii, for appellee Graulty, individually.
Louise K.Y. Ing, Alston, Hunt, Floyd & Ing, Honolulu, Hawaii, for appellees Thomas Hayes and Honolulu Professional Services.
OPINION
PER CURIAM:
The United States Trustee (U.S. Trustee) appeals from the district court's order overruling the objection to Reynaldo Graulty's final report as trustee for the Bishop Estate (Estate). The district court had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.S 157(d). We have jurisdiction over this timely appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. S 1291, and we vacate the district court's order and remand this case for 56 days for clarification.
During 1990-1992, Graulty was trustee for the Estate. Mary Louise Scheulin, as an employee of the Estate, oversaw its day-to-day operations during that time and incurred both salary and rent expenses. Scheulin was hired by the Estate's administrative controller, Thomas Hayes, whom Graulty hired with the district court's approval. Over the U.S. Trustee's objection, the district court, on May 26, 1995, approved Graulty's final report for the Estate. In that report, the Estate, and not Graulty, was responsible for Scheulin's expenses. The U.S. Trustee again objected that the workload of the Estate did not justify Scheulin's employment, and argued that someone else -- presumably Graulty -- should be responsible for Scheulin's expenses. The district court once more overruled the U.S. Trustee's objection on July 14, 1995 ....
Since we remand the case solely due to the failure of Graulty to prepare the final report adequately and due to omissions in the draft order he presented to the court, the district court shall not require the Estate to compensate Graulty for any work arising from this remand.
VACATED AND REMANDED.
www.kycbs.net/Rewald-Trustee-vs-Hayes.htm
Also see:
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Fuqua-Judith.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Farmer-David.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Guttman-Steven.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Alston-Paul.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Graulty-Rey.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Ezra-David.htm
* * * * *
Disavow: A CIA Story of Betrayal
By Rodney Stich & T. Conan Russell
The Saga of
Ron Rewald and Bishop, Baldwin, Rewald & Wong
CAST OF CHARACTERS
http://www.namebase.org/sources/ZS.html
* * * * *
NEW DISCOVERY (05-26-08):
The Global Economy's Investment
In Prostitution
Want to know a few of the results of the move towards the so-called "Global Economy" which has become the nirvana Corporate America seeks? Be very careful, you might not like what you find.
According to U.N. documents, 4 million women a year are sold into sexual slavery around the world. Understand, these documents aren't discussing some Mid- Eastern potentate's harem. What we're talking about is 500,000 women "imported" into Western Europe and 90,000 into Italy, alone. These women are kidnapped and sold into prostitution for the gratification of men like the late Larry Hilblom, the founder of DHL courier service. Hilblom, it should be added, also participated in the kidnapping and sales of many young women, as well.
The majority of these women, who are mostly just young girls, come from the countries once known as client states of the old Soviet Union, such as Albania and the Ukraine. In fact, the selling of girls for the sexual gratification of wealthy men has become a major export for many of the supposedly free nations from the former Soviet bloc.
Amazingly, many of these women are moved through our ally Israel. The reason Israel is a major center for these atrocities is that Israel has absolutely no laws against the sale or ownership of other humans. Now there is wonderful reason to continue our hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign aid to this moral back water of a country.
The main reason that these crimes can so easily occur is the demand by the world's corporations that there be few or no inspections at national borders and that, with corporations buying up governments just like ours at bargain prices, they own the decisions to investigate crimes and, of course, see no reason to investigate the very crimes they, themselves, are committing.
Now, of course, America is immune from these charges, aren't we. I mean, this is the country where politicians spend their entire careers shouting about their fairy tale world of "family values", right? Our government would immediately spring into action should even a hint of this crime appear within our borders, right?
Wrong, of course. Thai women were imported into the United States and forced into sexual slavery in New York, Houston and Toronto, according to stories in the LA Times, New York Times and Dallas Morning News.
How long will it take the corporate prostitutes in Washington, D.C., to even acknowledge these crimes? How many conservatives do you think are going to stand up in protest against these horrors against humanity? How many will demand hundreds of billions of dollars to fight these crimes against humanity? What is less than none?
Unless America wakes up to these violations against humanity and demands action from the blow hards in office, nothing, whatsoever, will ever happen. Why? Because the victims do not fall within the parameters these vile people respect. These are young girls from foreign countries that don't contribute to American political coffers, nor are they related to anyone who owns enough property to matter to American politicians. If they were all Republican, Christian, wealthy wives and daughters of campaign contributors then this would be a problem of cosmic proportion. They aren't, so the problem is ignored.
These crimes against women are only the most extreme examples of the damage that is being done to people all over the world in the name of corporate profits. Add in the disease ridden fruit coming into America from countries which have little in the way of health and safety laws and food covered with the pesticides that America banned so Corporate America sold its stock to the same Third World countries now supplying us with our daily fruits and vegetables and grains.
Consider the effects that corrupt rulers the world over have regarding the financial health of your retirement and investments and, if the idiots who hate government safety nets have their way, your Social Security. Consider the damage another episode like the Hunt brothers attempt to corner the silver market would have on America if it were done by a nation or groups of nations. Finally, consider the costs of a simple computer virus invading the systems which control what will be the world's financial institution.
You, as an individual, have absolutely nothing to gain in a global economy. In fact, you will be the loser if you continue to listen to the lies and do not begin fighting the mutation of your world into a world corporation where the wealthy would rule through unlimited economic power. As in all things, it is your choice but your inaction will affect billions of people for centuries to come.
http://www.anotherperspective.org/advoc150.html
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (04-24-08): Undisclosed relationships between Mary Lou Woo, James B. Nicholson, David C. Farmer, Steven Guttman, Judith Neustadter Fuqua, Paul Alston, Judge Lloyd King, Judge Robert Faris, Judge Kevin Chang, Judge David Ezra, Judge Barry Kurren, Judge Elizabeth Eden Hifo, Dee Jay Mailer, Eric Grant, Jim Dooley, and other witnesses; denial of First Amendment and Seventh Amendment Rights to Defendant and his prior attorney, John Goemans:
April 24, 2008
Kamehameha wants $2 million returned
School points to breach in terms of
confidential settlement paid in 2007
By Jim Dooley, Advertiser Staff Writer
Kamehameha Schools is trying to get back as much as $2 million of the $7 million it paid last year to settle a lawsuit that challenged its admissions policy favoring Hawaiian students, according to legal papers filed in federal court in California.
The papers are contained in new litigation filed after publication of an Advertiser news story in February that revealed that the settlement was $7 million.
The money was paid to a Big Island mother and child in return for their agreement to drop the lawsuit just before the U.S. Supreme Court was to decide whether it would hear an appeal of the case.
The plaintiffs, who have never been publicly identified and are known as Jane and John Doe, alleged in the California case that the schools "threatened" to publicly identify them if they did not place $2 million in an escrow account for possible return to the schools because terms of the confidential settlement had been revealed.
Ken Kuniyuki, a Hawai'i lawyer who now represents the pair, is alleging that David Schulmeister, an attorney for the schools, said that if the schools were forced to file suit over the issue, the names of the Does would become public.
Kuniyuki made the allegation in a sworn declaration filed this month in federal court in Sacramento, seeking a court order barring public identification of the plaintiffs.
Schools attorney Paul Alston denied that Schulmeister threatened to reveal the plaintiff's identities.
"Schulmeister told Kuniyuki that the (Kamehameha Schools/ Bishop Estate) believed the settlement agreement had been breached and that the estate was entitled to damages," Alston said in court papers filed April 14 in Sacramento.
"He further explained that a public lawsuit could make it difficult for the Does' anonymity to be preserved" and suggested that the $2 million be held in escrow while the parties discussed resolution of the dispute short of a lawsuit, according to Alston.
Alston stressed on Tuesday that Kamehameha Schools has not filed a lawsuit or taken any action that would publicly identify the Does.
"Kamehameha Schools is closely scrutinizing how to proceed," he said.
Tuesday night and yesterday, the Kamehameha Schools board of trustees and Chief Executive Dee Jay Mailer sent a mass e-mail to parents and alumni notifying them of the new legal skirmishing in California and alerting them that The Advertiser was preparing a story on the subject.
"A breach of confidentiality has occurred, and an investigation into the line of responsibility is in process. Legal action as appropriate shall follow," the trustees' e-mail said.
"It is aggravating to be drawn into this complicated and unsavory infighting," the trustees' message continued. "However, we will not allow this latest legal maneuver to distract us from our mission."
'Fear for our safety'
Jane and John Doe filed legal papers in Sacramento federal court denying any role in the release of the settlement figure by John Goemans, an attorney who used to represent them but who now is involved in a dispute over compensation for his services in the case.
Their attorney, Kuniyuki, also asked the federal court to issue a restraining order against all parties in the case preventing any attempts to disclose the identities of Jane and John Doe.
He attached an April 2 sworn statement from Jane Doe that said, "both John Doe and I fear for our safety if our identities are made public."
She noted that more than 1,550 reader comments were posted on the Advertiser's Web site following the February story that disclosed the settlement amount.
"Many of them are extremely critical of us. Some include threats of violence against us," she said.
"I have lived in Hawai'i for many years. The negative comments and threats posted to the Honolulu Advertiser's February 8, 2008 article are entirely consistent with my experience with many local residents regarding the admissions policy of the Kamehameha Schools."
If their identities become public, she said, "we are prepared to move and go into hiding."
Last week, following a hearing before U.S. District Judge Frank Damrell Jr., all parties in the federal court case stipulated that they would not disclose the true identities of the Does.
Goemans told The Advertiser in February that he believed the settlement amount should be a matter of public record, given Kamehameha Schools' status as the wealthiest and most influential nonprofit institution in Hawai'i.
Attorney's troubles
In a separate civil case now pending in Sacramento state court, Goemans was sentenced earlier this month to serve eight days in jail and fined $4,000 for violating a court order to keep the settlement amount secret.
Goemans, 73, now living in Florida with his sister, said by telephone, "I have zero money, I have serious health issues, and now I've been ordered to serve an eight-day jail sentence in California in the middle of May. I don't know what's going to happen."
The California state case was filed against Goemans by Eric Grant, a Sacramento attorney who litigated the Does' lawsuit from the time it was first filed in Hawai'i in 2003 through its settlement in May 2007.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Grant was entitled to 40 percent of the $7 million total, or $2.8 million.
He sued Goemans in Superior Court in Sacramento last year to try to settle the outstanding question of how much Goemans should be compensated.
Goemans conceived the civil rights lawsuit against the schools, found the plaintiffs on the Big Island and brought them together with Grant.
Goemans said the only money he has received was a $20,000 loan from Jane Doe but believes he is entitled to as much as 25 percent of the total settlement, or $1.75 million.
According to documents filed in the California state case, Grant became concerned early this year that Goemans intended to reveal the amount of the legal settlement and on Feb. 5 obtained a court order against Goemans blocking any such disclosures.
Three days later, The Advertiser published a news story based on Goemans' statements about the settlement amount.
Goemans said in a sworn statement filed with the California court March 17 that he is "not medically or mentally 100 percent" and had no memory of being informed of the Feb. 5 court order.
"I want to emphasize to the court that it was not my intent to deliberately and knowingly violate the court's order," the statement said.
But he reiterated his belief that Kamehameha Schools, as a tax-exempt organization, should not and cannot keep the terms of the settlement confidential.
After the settlement terms were made public, Grant filed a new federal lawsuit March 28 in Sacramento against Kamehameha Schools and his own clients, Jane and John Doe, asking the court for a ruling that he was not responsible for the disclosure and has no financial liability because of it.
Grant and an attorney who represents him did not return telephone requests for comment.
Alston filed a lengthy legal memo in the case last week questioning the Sacramento court's jurisdiction in the matter since the Does and the schools are in Hawai'i.
Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.
www.kycbs.net/KS-Seeks-Recovery-4-24-8.mht
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY - 02/18/08: UNDISCLOSED RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN DAVID C. FARMER, JON MIHO, CHARLES SWEENEY, TRINITY INVESTMENTS, VMS REALTY PARTNERS, JUDGE ROBERT FARIS, PAUL ALSTON, ROCCO SANSONE, MARSH & MCLENNAN, ETC.:
May 29, 2006
Trinity may buy bankrupt
Waikiki Hyatt
Pacific Business News (Honolulu)
The new owner of The Kahala Resort is positioning itself as a potential bidder for the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort & Spa.
Trinity Investments, a Honolulu-based firm that has made substantial profits specializing in the purchase of hotels owned by cash-strapped Japanese companies, now holds the first and second mortgages on the Hyatt Regency Waikiki. The firm bought the mortgages in March, about a month after the Japanese hotel owner filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in court in Honolulu.
The owner, Azabu Buildings Co. Ltd., went into bankruptcy Feb. 1. The mortgages held by Trinity total $330 million, and mature Nov. 6. Trinity hopes to convert its mortgage claim to equity by then.
Meanwhile, Trinity also acquired C.K. Corp., one of the fee owners of the land under the hotel.
Since it was founded by former Amfac hotel executive Charles Sweeney and Honolulu attorney Jon Miho in 1997, Trinity has picked up distressed commercial and resort properties bought or built by Japanese companies in the 1980s, refreshed and repositioned them, then resold at a hefty profit. Trinity often approached the hotels' creditors directly, offering cash to take the properties off their books quickly.
Late last year, Trinity acquired the Kahala Mandarin Oriental from its financially troubled Japanese owner for $175 million. Trinity changed the name to The Kahala Resort and took over the hotel's management.
Trinity adopted a similar strategy when it acquired the Kea Lani on Maui, upgrading and managing the property until it was sold in 2001.
But acquiring the Hyatt property will be a complex and expensive proposition. Hotels are now one of the hottest segments in commercial real estate and unlike the late 1990s, no one is selling at a loss.
Azabu won a four-month extension last week from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris to file its reorganization plan. Its new due date is Oct. 1....
But before Azabu gets to draw up a reorganization plan there are several other pending matters, including the eligibility of the claims of Japanese creditors who forced Azabu into bankruptcy.
Azabu Buildings owes about $4.3 billion to 35 creditors in Japan. Its primary asset in Hawaii is the hotel, in addition to which it owns $6.2 million worth of property, including a leasehold interest in the King's Village Shopping Center behind the Hyatt. The center is not involved in the bankruptcy.
However, the company's Japanese creditors banded together and filed for an involuntary bankruptcy petition in Hawaii last November. Azabu forged an agreement with its creditors to withdraw their petition, and filed for voluntary Chapter 11 in February.
"Anticipated litigation in this case could delay the sale of the hotel and/or confirmation of a reorganization plan," said James Wagner, who represents Azabu, in a court filing.
Also, The Chuo Mitsui Trust and Banking Co., Azabu's Japanese banker, says it holds a $125 million unpaid claim.
Further complicating any deal is the lease of the land under the Hyatt. Azabu's lease runs until 2047, but it is required to renegotiate the rent for the next 10 years, starting next Jan. 1. At present, Azabu pays a total of $5 million in annual rent to three owners.
Another possible disruption would be the hotel's negotiations with its union, whose contracts expire June 30.
These significant issues, Azabu's attorneys have argued, stand in the way of a sale of the hotel or putting together a reorganization plan that maximizes its value.
Paul Alston, the Honolulu attorney who represents Chuo Mitsui and the two mortgage lenders that Trinity acquired, said the case can't be dragged on forever.
"The loans come due Nov. 6 and things can't wait," Alston said. "Nobody has made any decisions yet, because people still are unraveling the Gordian knot. But things need to start happening."
Alston said Trinity is looking at several options including buying the hotel or being part of Azabu's reorganization plan for the hotel.
Such complex cases are not new to Azabu, whose Hawaii properties have been dragged into court by Japanese creditors before.
In 1993, Chuo Mitsui foreclosed on the $850 million mortgage on the Hyatt Waikiki. In 1996, Chuo Mitsui and Azabu struck a deal, and the bank created two entities that refinanced the loans to $380 million.
These were the two entities that Trinity bought, giving them control of the Hyatt mortgages. Trinity executives did not respond to requests for comment.
In 1998, the bank foreclosed on the Maui Marriott Resort, another Azabu purchase during its $600 million buying spree between 1986 and 1990. Azabu had to sell that property, and ended up owing $125 million to the bank. It's been chipping away at that debt from the Waikiki hotel's earnings.
Judge Faris has allowed Azabu to stop payment to that account so that it can pay for administrative and bankruptcy costs.
http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2006/05/29/story1.html
For more, GO TO > > > The Unholy Trinity; The Vultures in VMS Realty; Yakuza Doodle Dandies; Dirty Money, Dirty Politics & Bishop Estate; Paradise Paved
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY - 02/18/08:
May 17, 2006
Corruption at the CIA
Hawaiian
Hideaway?
by Rhonda Schwartz Reports, ABC News
Sources close to the widening probe of official corruption in Washington tell ABC News that investigators are studying travel records of expensive trips to Hawaii and Europe taken by top CIA official Dusty Foggo and San Diego defense contractor Brent Wilkes.
Prosecutors want to know who paid for the lavish trips to European castles and top end Hawaiian resorts, including this $7,000 a night Honolulu beachfront mansion, owned at one time by hair stylist super-star Paul Mitchell.
Wilkes, a close personal friend of Foggo is suspected of paying bribes to Congressman Duke Cunningham, who recently pled guilty in the corruption investigation.
* * * * *
To see the real estate ad - photos and video of the "Paul Mitchell" Estate - for the luxurious TRINITY vacation home rented for Wilkes and Foggo, click here:
http://www.hawaiianluxuryestaterentals.com/WEBS/Lanikai/104/PAULMITCHELLESTATE.html
* * * * *
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/05/hawaiian_hideaw.html
~ ~ ~
NEW UPDATE - 02/05/08:
July 3, 2005
Cemetery operator
faces criminal probe
'Wall' keeps criminal, civil probes separate
By Jim Dooley, Advertiser Staff Writer
The state Attorney General's office is conducting a criminal investigation of the purchase and operation of the RightStar group of funeral and cemetery companies in Hawai'i, according to state officials and private attorneys familiar with the investigation.
The criminal probe is separate from a civil lawsuit filed last year by the Attorney General's office that accuses RightStar officials and four local lawyers, including former Gov. John Waihee, of mismanaging more than $20 million in RightStar funds held in trust for thousands of Hawai'i customers who purchased "pre-need" funeral services and cemetery plots.
RightStar owns and operates four cemeteries: Valley of the Temples on O'ahu, Maui Memorial Park on the Valley Isle, and Homelani and Kona Memorial Parks on the Big Island.
The company purchased the cemeteries and related mortuary and funeral plan trust assets in 2001, and the state licensed RightStar to operate them in November 2001.
William McCorriston, attorney for Waihee and the other three lawyers who acted as trustees of the RightStar customers' trust funds, said he does not believe his clients are targets of the criminal investigation.
"We have informed the Attorney General of irregularities and delinquencies which had concerned us," McCorriston said. "We believe our information was the genesis of their investigation."
Waihee could not be reached for comment.
Attorneys for RightStar officials and Vestin Mortgage Inc., a Las Vegas-based lender that financed RightStar's purchase of the companies and filed a mortgage foreclosure lawsuit against RightStar for failure to repay $34 million in loans, said their clients have done nothing wrong. They said company officials are cooperating in the criminal and civil probes conducted by the Attorney General.
State Attorney General Mark Bennett and Deputy Attorney General Lawrence Goya confirmed the criminal investigation but would not elaborate on details of the case.
Legal quagmire
RightStar's financial problems have spawned a welter of lawsuits in state and federal court here, and involved the companies and its officials in at least one other ongoing criminal investigation, according to court records.
Most of the civil cases center on how the companies and trustees managed trust-fund assets.
The trust funds contain money from cemetery plot and funeral plan buyers that is supposed to be held in trust for the customers until they die. The funds also contain money set aside for "perpetual care" of the cemeteries.
According to state figures, the value of the trust funds stood at $63.2 million when RightStar took control of them. A year later, the value dropped to $40 million.
The foreclosure lawsuit filed by Vestin Mortgage claims that RightStar defaulted on loans that were used to purchase the companies. A state judge handling that case has appointed an independent receiver, Guido Giacometti, to run the cemeteries and funeral businesses and protect the rights of customers while the competing claims from numerous parties are sorted out.
In his two most recent monthly reports filed with the court, Giacometti said the companies have a "critical need" for additional money and are attempting to develop new cemetery plots and sell new funeral plans to increase cash flow.
"We're doing OK — sales volumes are relatively consistent," Giacometti said. "We'd like them to be higher but we inherited a company that had not reinvested in itself. There are a limited number of cemetery plots available, so we're working toward development of future areas."
Consumers caught
Local resident John Quinores bought four burial plots for himself and his family at Valley of the Temples in the 1960s and said he's worried about his investment. After agreeing to buy the cemetery plots, Quinores later supplemented that purchase with "pre-need" plans designed to provide funeral services when he dies.
"I'm still paying," Quinores said. "I called the company a couple of months ago with some questions but the lady that answered was vague and defensive."
Giacometti said he has made customer service a top priority and also is dealing with a variety of other pressing issues, including satisfying a dozen consumer complaints filed with the state Regulated Industries Complaints Office. Also unresolved are numerous other complaints about RightStar's decision last year to sell burial plots and funeral services contracts at a discount to a company called Alternative Debt Portfolios.
That sale was an effort by previous RightStar management to raise funds, Giacometti said.
"About 2,100 cemetery plot contracts were sold, but some of the contracts had already been paid in full and should not have been included in the deal," Giacometti said. "There are also some questions about who is responsible for the funeral services that are included in some of the other contracts."
Giacometti said he's cooperating in state and federal tax investigations of RightStar as well as a separate FBI investigation of Funding Solutions Inc., a company in Stamford, Conn., to which RightStar turned for financial assistance in 2004.
RightStar "made a $250,000 payment to them in return for a loan commitment, but then never got the loan," Giacometti said.
When Giacometti asked the company for a refund, "we ran right into an FBI investigation," he said. "They are investigating Funding Solutions and principals of the company and we are cooperating in that investigation."
According to federal court records, Funding Solutions executives Leonard Kalish and Joel Pondelik were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney's office in New York City in January.
A call to the company for comment was returned by Kalish's New York attorney, Martin Adelman, who said only that Kalish "will answer any and all official inquiries (about RightStar) when they are made."
A right to foreclose
Hawai'i Circuit Judge Sabrina McKenna ruled last month and again Friday that Vestin had the right to foreclose on RightStar, with the companies to be sold "to a licensed and qualified buyer" who would protect "the interests of consumers."
Attorney Grant Kidani, attorney for Alternative Debt Portfolios, had asked McKenna to delay foreclosure proceedings for 120 days, arguing that documents filed in another RightStar-related lawsuit, now pending in federal court here, showed both Vestin and RightStar had "unclean hands." Their relationship should be examined more closely before foreclosure takes place, he said.
The other federal court suit, first filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware and now pending before Hawai'i Federal Judge Helen Gillmor, alleges that Waihee and three other local attorneys who acted as RightStar funeral plan trustees were part of a fraudulent conspiracy to "strip the assets" of RightStar.
The suit was filed against RightStar by Alderwoods (Hawai'i) Inc., which purchased the assets of the cemetery and mortuary business in a Delaware bankruptcy court sale and then resold it to RightStar in 2001.
Charges in the suit are based in part on allegations from David Jackson, a former financial controller of RightStar Hawaii Management, who charged that Waihee used his "political influence" to smooth the company's dealings with state regulators.
McCorriston, Waihee's attorney, said Jackson's allegations "are part of an effort to besmirch Waihee's and the other trustees' reputations. RightStar has gone belly-up, so instead they're pointing their guns at the trustees."
Candace Ito, executive officer of the state Cemetery and Funeral Trusts Program, also denied Jackson's allegations, saying that "RightStar did not receive any special treatment" from the state.
RightStar President John Dooley said Waihee "did nothing improper while representing the company in the licensing process. He used his abilities to assist a private business attain licensing in the state of Hawai'i in much the same way that other former governors have assisted businesses in the past."
RightStar attorney James Wagner added, "Jackson is a disgruntled former employee who was fired for incompetence."
Attempts to reach attorneys for Jackson and Alderwoods were unsuccessful.
Transfers questioned
The state has charged in its civil suit against RightStar that the company and the former trustees improperly removed about $20 million in trust fund assets in 2002, transferring the money to RightStar's operational accounts. The state said the transfers should only have been made after a full accounting of the finances of the cemeteries and trust funds had been completed and filed with the state. Such financial statements have yet to be filed by RightStar, according to court records.
The Attorney General's suit also charged that the trustees removed another $20 million in trust fund assets and improperly invested the money in a Nevada real estate venture called Vestin Fund II. That fund is managed by Vestin Mortgage, the same company that financed RightStar's purchase of the cemeteries and trust funds in the first place.
An independent expert, John Candon, has been appointed by the court in the Attorney General's civil lawsuit to examine the finances and activities of RightStar and the trust funds and to make sure the money is properly accounted for and protected.
Last year, the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission revealed that it was investigating Vestin Fund II. Vestin called the SEC probe an "informal inquiry" that appears to focus on its financial reporting to the SEC.
Vestin attorney Paul Alston said the investment has yielded a return of 9 percent interest per year and is probably one of the best investments the trustees made."
And Alston said at least some of the blame for RightStar's problems belongs with the state. "It appears that the trusts were mishandled under the state's proverbial nose, and it is only because of Vestin's complaints ... that the state has stirred to action," Alston said in a letter to Judge McKenna.
In late May, state Deputy Attorney General James Paige said in a letter to Judge McKenna that the state had attempted unsuccessfully to recover $20 million in RightStar trust money from Vestin Fund II.
Under the terms of the investment, Paige said, the fund can give back no more than 10 percent of an investment per year. At that rate, the consumer trust funds that the state wants back will not be fully recovered "until approximately the year 2015," Paige wrote.
Class-action suit filed
Last week, a class-action lawsuit was added to the legal woes besetting RightStar. One plaintiff in the suit, Yahnina Hackney, repeated claims reported earlier by The Advertiser that RightStar improperly canceled her stepmother's funeral services contract after the elderly woman became sick and failed to make monthly payments to the company.
The company said in response that the cancellation was made by previous owners of the company and some of the disputed funds are still being held in trust.
Hackney said when her stepmother died, there was no money to pay for her burial. "I had to ask the state to do it," she said. "It was very sad. She was cremated. She didn't want that. I have her ashes at home."
She said she "would like to see everybody wake up and take a look at this issue. It's very important and it's something we all will have to face."
Reach Jim Dooley at 535-2447 or jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.
www.kycbs.net/EXHIBIT-Dooley-HA-7-3-5.htm
For more, GO TO > > > Vampires in the Cemetery
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (12-01-07): Re: WITNESS JOHN WAIHEE, IV:
John Waihee, IV, OHA trustee and son of former Governor John Waihee, III, is arrested in May, 2007, for DUI, but the arrest is not reported for six months. If this arrest of one of my named witness had been reported in the news media at the time it happened, as is normally done, this NEW material evidence could have been submitted in my earlier Requests for Reconsideration of the Appointment of David C. Farmer as Successor Trustee in this case.
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (11-28-07): David C. Farmer has undisclosed professional and personal connections to Ruth Ann Becker, founder and president of Becker Communications, through several entities in this case, including Bishop Museum, Hawaii Opera Theater; YY Valley Associates, Paul Alston, Aloha Tower Marketplace, University of Hawaii, Stanford Carr Development, Molokai Ranch, and others.
~ ~ ~
NEW WITNESS: HILLARY CLINTON (Added 11-27-07)
See also: HAIL TO THE CHIEF
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (11-19-07):
November 19, 2007
Hawaii bankruptcies still
active years later
By Jim Dooley, Advertiser Staff Writer
It's been almost 10 years since Sukamto Sia, the high-rolling former Honolulu bank owner and real estate dealer, filed a $300 million personal bankruptcy case — and it still hasn't been resolved.
Sia's case is not the oldest bankruptcy pending in Hawai'i. A computer search of court dockets showed that there are 22 open cases filed between 1992 and 2000, involving hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid debts.
Several of the bankruptcies generated financial and social shockwaves when they were filed. Sia's case was notable because of his flamboyant lifestyle and the related financial collapse of the Bank of Honolulu.
The old cases, while still unresolved, have dwindled away to obscurity.
As they drag out there is "less money ... to pay creditors," bankruptcy attorney Dawn Smith said. "Usually there are administrative expenses that have to be paid to attorneys, accountants, appraisers and so forth."
Those expenditures can result in recovery of money owed to the bankrupt estate and later distributed to creditors, but Smith noted that for creditors "waiting years and years for payment means they've lost the use of that money and interest it could have been earning."
The oldest active case is the 1992 Hamakua Sugar bankruptcy, in which one of the largest sugar plantations in Hawai'i closed its doors, throwing some 700 employees out of work and idling cultivation of some 35,000 acres of land on the Big Island. The bankruptcy case was first closed in 1999 but reopened in 2004 to deal with a $36,000 fuel rebate apparently owed to the bankrupt estate. That collection issue is unresolved.
According to paperwork filed when the case was reopened, even if the money is collected, it won't come close to paying all the bills in the case.
"The total amount of unpaid administrative (expenses) in this case is $1.2 million," the Office of the U.S. Trustee reported. "There are over 1,200 administrative claimants comprised of government agencies, former employees, landlords, professionals, and others."
The oldest personal bankruptcy case still active here is that of Marlene Lindsey, sister of former Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate trustee Lokelani Lindsey.
The sisters were convicted in 2002 of federal money-laundering and tax charges connected to Marlene Lindsey's bankruptcy case. The bankruptcy remains open while Lokelani Lindsey, who once collected $1 million per year from the Bishop Estate and was one of the most powerful and controversial women in Hawai'i, makes $300 monthly restitution payments to her sister's bankrupt estate.
As of July 31, she had managed to pay $5,000 of the $35,000 she was ordered to repay in 2002.
Other cases include that of Mahalo Air, the startup interisland air carrier that launched service here in 1993 and shut its doors with a 1997 bankruptcy filing that is still active.
The financial failure of Gray Line Hawaii Ltd., the state's third-largest tour bus company, which shut its doors in 1997, is also generating paperwork in Bankruptcy Court.
In the Sia case, a lot has happened to the Indonesian-born businessman since he filed the bankruptcy action in 1998, listing among his debts tens of millions of dollars owed to gambling casinos in Las Vegas, London and Asia.
He was convicted in 2002 of bank and bankruptcy fraud related to the financial collapse and federal takeover of the Bank of Honolulu. He served three years in federal prison and was deported and forbidden ever to return to the United States.
Just a few months ago, he married Kelly Randall, who was his co-defendant in the fraud case, in a lavish wedding at the Hotel de Paris in Monaco.
A few friends from Honolulu attended the July nuptials, including state Senate vice president Donna Mercado Kim and Waikiki's "Ambassador of Aloha," entertainer Danny Kaleikini, according to news accounts of the event.
Attempts to reach Kim, Kaleikini and Linda Wong, another Honolulu friend of Sia's who attended the Monaco wedding, were unsuccessful.
Sia and Randall could not be reached. Sia's local bankruptcy attorney, Noah Fiddler, did not return telephone calls for comment.
Sia still owes more than $200 million to creditors around the world. Randall owes more than $1 million because of a series of transfers of assets Sia made to her, according to documents in the case.
Some creditors wonder where the money came from for the European wedding.
"I don't doubt there are still millions dollars out there which were never found," said Paul Alston, local attorney for an Asian bank owed more than $4 million.
The largest single creditor in the case is CommerzBank (Southeast Asia), which is owed some $41 million, according to case records.
According to accounts of the wedding published in two Singapore-based magazines, it was an exclusive and expensive affair.
Guido Giacometti, the court-appointed private trustee in charge of the Sia bankruptcy case, said he believes it will be closed in the next few months.
"We found all the pockets (of money) that we could," he said.
The Office of the U.S. Trustee, an arm of the Justice Department that oversees the administration of bankruptcy cases, stresses the need to close cases as quickly as possible, Giacometti said.
"We stay in close touch with the office," Giacometti said. "There are cases like this one which stretch out over years and I think the U.S. Trustee's office understands that."
He added: "This was a very complex case with international aspects and with connections to criminal proceedings. Next year it will be 10 years since the case was filed and I'm as anxious to close it as anyone else involved."
Carol Muranaka, assistant U.S. trustee in charge of the Hawai'i office, declined comment, referring questions to Steven Katzman, head of the U.S. Trustee's regional office in San Diego.
Katzman, who oversees bankruptcy administration in Southern California, Hawai'i, Guam and Saipan, was traveling and could not be reached for comment.
ACTIVE BANKRUPTCIES
Hawai'i bankruptcies filed 1992-2000 that are still active:
1992: Hamakua Sugar Co. Inc.
1994: Papa Bay Inc.
1995: Lindsey, Marlene
1996:
Industrial Technology Inc.
1997:
Mahalo Air Inc.
Kunimoto, Allan
Upland partners
1998:
Hawaiian International Service & Tours
Syntech, Ltd.
Ho'Ano Inc.
1999:
Oahu Construction Co. Ltd.
Multimedia Pacific Inc.
Hawaiian Super Prix LLC & Frontier Insurance Group
Hawaiian Grocery Stores Ltd.
2000:
Lee, Tanya
Midpac Lumber Co. Ltd.
Cg Investments Inc.
Cabuloy, Vicente
Giacometti v. Arton Bermuda Ltd. (related to 1998 Sia case)
Source: U.S. Bankruptcy Court
Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com
~ ~ ~
To: Mudboy Slim
Apollo Advisors - Financial investment managers. 13th largest campaign contributor to Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Al Gore's vice presidential running mate, and a client of lobbying firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. Another of Akin, Gump's clients is Miller & Chavalier, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm which, together with PricewaterhouseCoopers, drafted the IRS settlement agreement for Hawaii's Kamehameha Schools.
Apollo Advisors has a number of other important connections with Kamehameha Schools: Along with National Housing Corp (which was involved in an alleged kick-back scheme with ousted Bishop Estate trustees Henry Peters and Richard Wong), Apollo and Trinity Investment Trust have financial interests in several estate-owned properties involving two alleged Yakuza-connected companies -- Azabu Building Company and Mitsui Trust.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/726941/replies?c=6
~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (11-22-07):
March 15, 2007
Hyatt gets OK to buy flagship
property in Waikiki
The Hyatt Regency Waikiki will be sold
to Hyatt Corp. for $445 million
By Kristen Consillio, Star-Bulletin
Hyatt Corp. got court approval yesterday to buy its flagship Waikiki hotel for $445 million from bankrupt Azabu Buildings Co. Ltd.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris confirmed the sale of the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort & Spa to Hyatt, which has managed the property since it opened in 1974.
The sale includes the King's Village Shopping Center, which is owned by Azabu Buildings' wholly owned subsidiary, Azabu USA Corp. Azabu went into bankruptcy in February 2006.
Hyatt was the sole qualified bidder, having put down a $25 million deposit for the property as of the March 6 deadline for competing bids.
A second offer for $5.1 billion in cash or $9 billion in stock from Ade Ogunjobi, founder, chairman and CEO of TC Co./Toks Inc. was rejected by the court, which disqualified his bid because he couldn't post the required $25 million deposit.
Toks and Ogunjobi were sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in August 2003 for offering fraudulent promissory notes over the Internet in a bid to raise billions of dollars to acquire more than a dozen of the world's largest corporations, though the company had no assets, sales or revenue.
In December 2003, Toks, which said it had relocated to Honolulu from Los Angeles, submitted a motion and application to acquire Hawaiian Holdings Inc., parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, through an exchange tender offer for $1 billion in stock and assumption of all of the airline's debt.
An auction set for yesterday was called off because there were no other qualified bids.
Hyatt is required to increase its deposit to $44.5 million, or 10 percent of the sales price, three business days after confirmation of the transaction.
Hyatt is taking control of the hotel by purchasing the stock of Azabu Buildings.
Meanwhile, Azabu and the committee of unsecured creditors have filed a suit against Azabu's Japan-based lender Chuo Mitsui Trust & Banking Co. Ltd., Waikiki First Finance Corp. and Waikiki S.F. Corp.
Waikiki First and Waikiki S.F. -- both owned by Honolulu-based Trinity Investments -- hold the first and second mortgages on the hotel, which total $330 million.
Azabu and the creditors assert that the lender's claims and the mortgages should either be rejected or reduced in priority. Chuo Mitsui's claims total $192 million.
Paul Alston, attorney for Chuo Mitsui and the two mortgage lenders that Trinity acquired, said his clients deny there is any merit to the claims made by Azabu and the creditor's committee.
Hyatt's general manager, Michael Jokovich, didn't return calls for comment yesterday.
"The property has substantial strategic value to Hyatt so the bid price is fairly aggressive," said tourism consultant Joseph Toy of Hospitality Advisors LLC. "Given its strategic value to Hyatt they certainly are willing to pay that premium."
http://starbulletin.com/2007/03/15/business/story02.html
~ ~ ~
December 11, 2005
Former shareholders sue
Steve Case, Grove Farm
By Cynthia Kaneshiro - The Garden Island
Members of the Wilcox family filed a civil suit claiming that they were allegedly "duped" into selling their Grove Farm shares to America Online co-founder Stephen Case for a fraction of the company's value.
In the lawsuit, the family members allege that Grove Farm's attorneys and members of its board of directors "betrayed Grove Farm from within" to ensure that Case, the son of the managing attorney of Grove Farm's law firm, could buy the company for $26 million in December 2000.
The Wilcox family members seek a jury trial at which they hope to be awarded compensatory damages of $750 million, plus punitive damages of $2 billion against Case, punitive damages of $2 billion against leaders of the company's law firm, and $2 billion in punitive damages against members of the company's board of directors....
In a statement sent to The Garden Island, Case's attorney, Paul Alston, responded to the lawsuits.
"These two new lawsuits recycle old and unfounded allegations against Steve Case and his companies. The merger between Grove Farm and Steve Case's company was approved by almost 99 percent of the shareholders — including the plaintiffs in these lawsuits — in a process that was thorough and appropriate," said Alston.
"This new challenge, brought by a few disgruntled investors who apparently have a bad case of sellers' remorse, has no merit. Mr. Case looks forward to being fully vindicated by the courts in both cases."
Warren Haruki, president and chief executive officer of Grove Farm, also responded by e-mail to queries from The Garden Island.
"Steve Case's investment in Grove Farm has been instrumental in solving Grove Farm's financial problems, and in helping us build a future that will be good for both the company and Kaua'i as a whole. We are truly grateful for his commitment, his vision, and his investment," said Haruki....
"This lawsuit, filed by a few disgruntled shareholders, has no merit," said Haruki. "Nonetheless, Steve and Grove Farm will have to divert the time and resources to deal with it. However, we are confident that, in the end, the shareholders' arguments will be rejected by the court."...
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs in the case controlled approximately 61,000 shares of Grove Farm, or more than 36 percent of the 171,126 shares of outstanding stock.
The lawsuit claims that leaders of Grove Farm's law firm allegedly represented both the seller and the buyer.
"Just as a person playing both sides of a chess match decides whether white or black wins, a lawyer representing two sides with directly conflicting interests controls who will come out on top," the lawsuit says.
According to the lawsuit, the Wilcox family members allege that attorneys in the firm Case Bigelow & Lombardi helped Case buy Grove Farm.
According to the lawsuit, in 1999 and early 2000, Scott Blum, the son-in-law of Grove Farm's President and Chief Executive Officer at the time, Hugh Klebahn, allegedly attempted to take over the company with help from within.
The lawsuit alleges that a series of letters were ghost-written by attorney James Cribley and sent to Grove Farm shareholders over the signature of Klebahn and director Randal Moore in 1998, 1999, and 2000.
The lawsuit claims that the shareholders were allegedly led to believe that the company was "in dire financial straits."...
The Wilcox family members allege that the younger Case "picked up and finished off Grove Farm." They allege that he was "fed insider information by his father and by the company's CEO."
The lawsuit claims that, after the sale, the Wilcox family members found out that the fair market value of the company's 21,600 acres after debt was "in excess of $26 million," and that the true value of the company was concealed.
Members of the Wilcox family in their lawsuit allege that they were not informed of a Bank of Hawaii appraisal that was done four months before shareholders voted to sell the company. That appraisal estimated Grove Farm's land to be worth $152 million.
According to the lawsuit, the Wilcox family members allege that Case was given the appraisal, and used it in considering whether or not to buy Grove Farm.
The lawsuit alleges that members of Grove Farm's board of directors did not get the highest dollar amount for the company, and that board members misled shareholders about the company's financial standing.
According to the lawsuit, the Wilcox family members allege that Grove Farm's chief executive officer conspired with attorney Daniel Case, with other Grove Farm attorneys, and with Stephen Case, to defraud shareholders into believing that $152 per share was the highest price that could be attained, when another, superior offer was made at $170 per share.
The Wilcox family members claim that Case profited from the sale by "liquidating Grove Farm in earnest." According to the lawsuit, Case recently sold Kukui Grove Center for $63 million, and received about $26.5 million for selling 88 lots in a Lihu'e-Puhi housing project.
The family members point out that Case may expect about $54.3 million more after another 191 lots were recently put on the market.
In 2003, according to the lawsuit, Grove Farm leaders sold 10 acres to officials at The Home Depot, and brought in $10 million to $20 million to Grove Farm.
"After reaping some $150 to $200 million from selling off bits of Grove Farm, Stephen Case still has over 20,000 acres of land in Grove Farm," the lawsuit says.
According to the lawsuit, the Wilcox family members believe that the remaining land is worth at least another $1 billion.
The Wilcox family members allege in their lawsuit that they were led to believe that, over the course of 1999 and 2000, the company "was on the brink of insolvency."
They claim that the board members allegedly withheld information for the purpose of having the shareholders vote in favor of selling the company....
www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2005/12/11/news/news02.txt
~ ~ ~
987 F.2d 608
25 Fed.R.Serv.3d 421
* Raymond PEDRINA, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
Han Kuk CHUN; Y.Y. Valley Corp.; Tetsuo Yasuda; Robert
Carter; Masanori Kobayashi; Yoshinori "Ken" Hayashida;
City and County of Honolulu; Frank F. Fasi, Mayor; Hiroshi
Kobayashi; Eugene Lum; Nora Lum; Ernest Souza,
Defendants-Appellees.
No. 92-15065.
United States Court of Appeals,
Ninth Circuit.
Argued and Submitted Nov. 5, 1992.
Decided March 4, 1993.
Page 609
Thomas Lavigne, Kaneohe, Hawaii; Anthony P. Locricchio, Kailua, Hawaii, for plaintiffs-appellants.
Paul Alston, Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing; Robert C. Godbey, Gilbert & Jeynes; Stanley E. Levin; Rodney Veary, Deputy City Atty.; James E. Duffy, Jr., Fujiyama Duffy & Fujiyama; Wallace S. Fujiyama; Mervyn Kotake; Eugene Lum; Robert J. Hackman, Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel, Honolulu, Hawaii, for defendants-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii.
Before BROWNING, NORRIS, and REINHARDT, Circuit Judges.
WILLIAM A. NORRIS, Circuit Judge:
Rule 41(a)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides, in relevant part:
[A]n action may be dismissed by the plaintiff without order of court (i) by filing a notice of dismissal at any time before service by the adverse party of an answer or of a motion for summary judgment, whichever first occurs.
The question presented by this appeal is whether Rule 41(a)(1) allows a plaintiff to dismiss without a court order fewer than all of the named defendants, or whether the Rule is limited to dismissals of the plaintiff's entire case.
The answer to this question turns on our interpretation of the word "action" in Rule 41(a)(1), and whether it refers to the entire controversy against all the defendants, or to the entirety of claims against any single defendant. Other circuits are divided on the question.... ("Rule 41(a)(1) provides for the voluntary dismissal of an 'action' not a 'claim'; the word 'action' as used in the Rules denotes the entire controversy, whereas 'claim' refers to what has traditionally been termed 'cause of action.' ")....
~ ~ ~
July 3, 1996
Allegations of
EXTORTION
A lawsuit says stolen documents and publicly circulated fliers are part of an extortion scheme against an attorney and a businessman
By Ian Y. Lind, Star-Bulletin
Thieves last year stole thousands of pages of documents from the Honolulu law firm of Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing, says senior partner Paul Alston.
Alston doesn't know exactly when or how the documents were stolen from the firm's high-rise offices but believes he knows who did it and why.
He says the theft was part of an extortion scheme aimed at him and real estate executive William S. Chee. The two say they have been publicly accused of "outrageous criminal acts" to "strong-arm" them into not collecting on a bad debt. Copies of stolen documents have been circulated with some of those accusations.
Alston and Chee have filed suits in state and federal courts blaming former Waikiki nightclub operator Steve Crouch and two supporters for the 1995 theft and extortion attempt, which allegedly occurred after Crouch defaulted on three real estate loans. Crouch and his supporters deny the accusations.
Chee's attorney, John Komeiji, said former Gov. George Ariyoshi, a member of Komeiji's law firm, sought the help of Big Island rancher Larry Mehau during behind-the-scene negotiations aimed at settling the dispute with Crouch. Mehau was contacted because of Crouch's association with Gabriel "Gabe" Aio, a longtime associate of Mehau's.
Alston said the theft was not discovered immediately because the documents were removed from his files, copied, and then put back in place. Court records show 836 documents totaling about 10,000 pages were taken....
Chee is president of Prudential Locations Inc., until recently the state's largest real estate firm, and is president and chairman of Resco Inc., its parent company. Alston is a director of Resco and some subsidiaries, and his law firm represents the companies. Alston and Chee are related by marriage.
Beginning in early 1993, Alston and Chee purchased $1 million in mortgage loans that Crouch and his company, MLC Inc., obtained to fund initial stages of a proposed 19-home development in Aiea Heights.
After running into delays and financial problems, Crouch defaulted on the loans, and in May 1994 Alston foreclosed.
The stolen documents relate to the Crouch loans and other business deals involving Chee and his companies, Alston said.
According to court records, dozens of the stolen documents spilled into view this year when they were included in fliers accusing Chee and Alston of numerous crimes related to the Crouch loans, including fraud, conspiracy and taking part in a money-laundering scheme linked to well-known Hawaii crime figure Jesse James Bates.
Thousands of copies of the fliers, including what purported to be a letter from Bates describing the conspiracy, were passed out on downtown street corners and at a national Prudential convention hosted by Chee at Blaisdell Center. The fliers were distributed by Nolan Crabbe, a contractor who says he is running for the 2nd Congressional District seat.
The fliers and other materials contain no evidence of money-laundering or any partnership between Bates and Chee.
"These kind of claims are so asinine they're difficult even to respond to," Chee said. "The first time they came in, I said 'this is a joke.' Now we find out they're dead serious about this stuff."
Named as defendants in the lawsuits are Crouch, Crabbe and Eric Aaron Lighter, a self-described "white-collar crime investigator" assisting Crouch.
The three men have denied responsibility for theft of the documents, and Crouch says the alleged "extortion demand" was actually a routine proposal to settle the foreclosure suit....
When pressed, however, Lighter appears to stop short of direct accusations and says he is merely presenting evidence that should be reviewed by a federal grand jury.
In this case, Chee said, "they're taking the documents, the attorney-client privilege things that were taken from Paul's office and spreading them all over town. When you pull them out of context, they cause tremendous business problems for us."
Chee said he has opened his company books to shareholders and employees to assure them that the allegations of criminal activities are false....
Crouch, who has filed for personal and corporate bankruptcy, says he obtained copies of the stolen documents late last year when four boxes were left anonymously at his home.
Crouch says the documents show Alston and Chee conspired to put him out of business by secretly buying his mortgages at the same time their company, Prudential Locations, was the project's exclusive sales agent.
Alston rejects Crouch's allegations. "You get to the end and it's just a business deal. We loaned the guy money and he didn't pay. Now we just want to get paid."
http://starbulletin.com/96/07/03/news/story2.html
~ ~ ~
U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
TRUSTEE v HAYES
IN RE: BISHOP, BALDWIN, REWALD,
Hawaii corporation, Debtor. No. 95-16119
OFFICE OF THE U.S. TRUSTEE, 83-00381-MP
Appellant,
v.
Appellee.
IN RE: BISHOP, BALDWIN, REWALD, DILLINGHAM & WONG, INC.,
a Hawaii corporation, Debtor.
No. 95-16776
OFFICE OF THE U.S. TRUSTEE, Appellant
v.
THOMAS HAYES; REYNALDO D. GRAULTY, Trustee,
Chapter 7 Trustee; HONOLULU PROFESSIONAL
SERVICES; BANKRUPTCY TRUSTEE,
Appellees.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii Martin Pence, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted November 4, 1996--Honolulu, Hawaii
Filed January 13, 1997
Before: J. Clifford Wallace, Mary M. Schroeder, and Arthur A. Alarcon, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam Opinion
COUNSEL
Kathleen Dunivin Schmitt, United States Department of Justice, Executive Office for United States Trustees, Washington, D.C., for the appellant.
James F. Evers, Wagner, Watson & Pettit, Honolulu, Hawaii, for appellees Graulty, as trustee, and Wagner, Watson & Pettit.
Stanley E. Levin, Davis & Levin, Honolulu, Hawaii, for appellee Graulty, individually.
Louise K.Y. Ing, Alston, Hunt, Floyd & Ing, Honolulu, Hawaii, for appellees Thomas Hayes and Honolulu Professional Services.
OPINION
PER CURIAM:
The United States Trustee (U.S. Trustee) appeals from the district court's order overruling the objection to Reynaldo Graulty's final report as trustee for the Bishop Estate (Estate). The district court had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.S 157(d). We have jurisdiction over this timely appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. S 1291, and we vacate the district court's order and remand this case for 56 days for clarification.
During 1990-1992, Graulty was trustee for the Estate. Mary Louise Scheulin, as an employee of the Estate, oversaw its day-to-day operations during that time and incurred both salary and rent expenses. Scheulin was hired by the Estate's administrative controller, Thomas Hayes, whom Graulty hired with the district court's approval. Over the U.S. Trustee's objection, the district court, on May 26, 1995, approved Graulty's final report for the Estate. In that report, the Estate, and not Graulty, was responsible for Scheulin's expenses. The U.S. Trustee again objected that the workload of the Estate did not justify Scheulin's employment, and argued that someone else -- presumably Graulty -- should be responsible for Scheulin's expenses. The district court once more overruled the U.S. Trustee's objection on July 14, 1995....
Since we remand the case solely due to the failure of Graulty to prepare the final report adequately and due to omissions in the draft order he presented to the court, the district court shall not require the Estate to compensate Graulty for any work arising from this remand.
VACATED AND REMANDED.
www.kycbs.net/Rewald-Trustee-vs-Hayes.html
~ ~ ~
Paul Alston is expected to testify regarding the reason(s) Defendant should be barred from communicating with him in any manner.
Paul Alston is also expected to testify as to the facts regarding his business, financial, social and personal relationships with President Barack Obama, Chief Justice John Roberts, John Goemans, Judith Neustadter Fuqua; Ray Fuqua, American Arbitration Association, Wallace Fujiyama, Colbert Matsumoto, James Duffy, John Marshall, Grove Farm, Steve Case, Oprah Winfrey, Ed Case, Jeffrey Case, Suzanne Case, Henry Paulson, The Nature Conservancy; Stanley Hong; Faye Kurren; Judge Barry Kurren; Judge Robert Faris, Judge David Ezra; Judge Kevin Chang; Judge Rey Graulty; Judge Samuel King; Randall Roth; Guido Giacometti, Susan Tius, Dispute Prevention & Resolution, Inc.; Honolulu Panel of Neutrals; County of Maui; Maui Planning Commission; George Ariyoshi; George Harrison**; Hawaii Land Use Commission; Kamehameha Schools; Judge Eden Elizabeth Hifo, Hamilton McCubbin***; YY Valley Corporation; Yasuo Yasuda; Gene & Nora Lum; John Waihee; Vestin Mortgage, Inc; Daniel Akaka; Ron Brown; Paul Cathcart; Gensiro Kawamoto; Carol Asai-Sato; CB Richard Ellis; Mitsui Trust & Banking; University of Hawaii Foundation; Louise Ing; Aloha Airlines; Prudential; David Nakashima; Colbert Matsumoto; Wayne Arakaki; Wayne Hikida; Richard Toyama; Island Insurance Company; Lionel Tokioka; Warren K.K. Luke; Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Hawaii National Bank; Tan Tek Lum; Mark Hastert; Queen’s Medical Center; Jeffrey Watanabe; Consuelo Zobel Alger Foundation; Linda Chu Takayama; Jim Dooley, KITV 4 News; Sally Apgar, Honolulu Advertiser; Ian Lind; Peter Guber; Mandalay Properties Hawaii; William Young; Island Access Coalition; Hawaiian Electric Co.; Diane Plotts; Constance Lau; Robert Kihune; Gilbert Tam; Bank of Hawaii; Nathan Aipa; Colleen Wong; Louanne Kam; Lyn Anzai; Earl Anzai; William S. Richardson; William K. Richardson; Eric Martinson; Bruce Nakaoka; HiBEAM; Enterprise Honolulu; Judge Kevin Chang; Judge David Ezra; Judge Patrick Yim; Roy Hughes; Michael Tanoue; Donna Tanoue; James Duffy; Warren Price; PricewaterhouseCoopers; Evan Dobelle; Hamilton McCubbin; Dee Jay Mailer; Art Woolaway; Alexander & Baldwin; University of Hawaii Foundation; C. Brewer & Co.; Sukamto Sia; DFS Group, LP; Jeffrey Stone; Kevin Showe; Ko Olina Beach Lagoon Estates, LLC; Colleen Hanabusa; Benjamin Cayetano; Linda Lingle; Margery Bronster; Mark Bennett; Hugh Jones; Linda Chu Takayama; George Ariyoshi; John Komeiji; Larry Mehau; Steve Crouch*; Gabriel Aio*; William S. Chee*; Prudential Locations; J.P. Schmidt; Baker & Taylor**; Bart Kane**; Rod Tam**; Carlyle Group**; James Baker III; W.R. Grace Co.***; Gerard Jervis; Rocco Sansone, Marsh & McLennan, Inc.; Blossom Tong; Marsh Affinity Group Services; Mary Lou Woo; Steven Guttman; James Nicholson; Carol Muranaka; Cecil Santos; David M. Louie, St. Paul Travelers Insurance Co., Theresa Lam, Frank Fasi, Janet Reno, Outrigger Enterprises, David Carey, Jean Rolles, Clyde Mark, David Farmer, Richard Turbin, Judge Robert Faris, James Cribley, Dan Case, Ron Rewald, Ruth Ann Becker, Becker Communications, Ed Kubo, Jon Miho, Trinity Investments, LLC, Susan Ichinose, Tany Hong, Ted Hong, Lea Ok Sook Hong, Masaru Yokouchi, Robin Campaniano, AIG, Kent Keith, and other entities yet to be named upon discovery.
Internet References:
http://sites.google.com/site/thecatbirdsnest/home/
http://pview.findlaw.com/view/2367354_1
http://www.eric-grant.com/work/KSBE3.pdf
http://www.voy.com/129276/860.html
http://starbulletin.com/2006/03/12/editorial/special.html
http://starbulletin.com/2006/03/12/editorial/special2.html
http://starbulletin.com/2006/04/25/news/story09.html
www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2006/05/09/news/news04.txt
www.starbulletin.com/96/07/03/news/story2.html
www.starbulletin.com/97/10/03/news/story2.html
http://starbulletin.com/97/11/11/news/story1.html **
http://starbulletin.com/98/02/20/news/story1.html **
http://starbulletin.com/98/05/19/news/story3.html **
http://starbulletin.com/1999/05/17/editorial/chang.html
http://starbulletin.com/1999/07/13/news/story6.html **
www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2000/August/447civ.htm **
http://starbulletin.com/2001/06/19/news/story2.html **
www.hcc.hawaii.edu/hspls/reos/reoscast.html **
www.assetprotectionbook.com/1998_HI_111.htm
www.kycbs.net/CarlyleGroup.htm **
www.kycbs.net/McCubbin-3-13-3.htm ***
www.kycbs.net/NatureConservancy.htm
www.kycbs.net/Paradise.htm ***
www.kycbs.net/PunaConnection.htm
www.kycbs.net/MaunawiliValley.htm
www.kycbs.net/GensiroKawamoto.htm
www.drugwar.com/ruppertindex.shtm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Fuqua-Judith.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Bennett-Mark.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Kawamoto.htm
www.kycbs.net/CBRichardEllis.htm
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/2000/Feb/12/localnews5.html
http://starbulletin.com/2001/06/19/news/story2.html **
http://ilind.net/diary/jul_3_03.html
http://ilind.net/diary/oct_3_03.html
http://starbulletin.com/2004/02/10/news/story3.html *
http://starbulletin.com/2004/06/12/news/story10.html
www.kycbs.net/Apartheid-Hawaii.htm
www.kycbs.net/Claim-Island-9-23-4.htm
www.kycbs.net/PunaConnection.htm
www.kycbs.net/Alexander-Baldwin.htm
www.kycbs.net/BuzzardsOfParadise.htm
www.kycbs.net/GoldmanSachs.htm
www.kycbs.net/Henry-Paulson.htm
www.kycbs.net/NatureConservancy.htm
www.kycbs.net/Nature-Conservancy-Hawaii.htm
www.kycbs.net/ConsueloFoundation.htm
www.kycbs.net/Hawaiian-Electric.htm
www.kycbs.net/Claims-Branch-Island.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Fuqua-6-23-5.htm
www.hid.uscourts.gov/HID/Welcome.nsf/mediators?OpenPage
Equity 2048 -The Richards Report
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~rroth/Richards%20Master%20Report.doc
XL Reinsurance Policy No. XLRKS-01796
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-XL-Policy-Dec.pdf
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-XL-Policy.pdf
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-XL-Policy-Append.pdf
Equity 2048 - Related Correspondence and Documents
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-Mediation-Order-3-9-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-Anzai-McCubbin-4-27-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-AG-Trustees-4-27-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-Miyagi-AG-4-27-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-Seal-Docs-5-3-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-PC-Peters-5-5-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-AG-Witnesses-5-19-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-XL-Miyagi-AG-5-26-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-Form990-1998-pdf
www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-DiscoveryFees-5-30-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-AG-Objection-6-23-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-Federal-Response-6-23-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-Deposition-Notice-7-21-0.pdf
IRS Closing Agreement for Kamehameha Schools
www.kycbs.net/KSBE-IRSagrmnt.pdf
www.kycbs.net/KSBE-IRSagrmnt2.pdf
The Na Kumu Book Advisory Group
www.kycbs.net/NaKumuBook-6-10-4.htm
www.kycbs.net/NaKumuBook-6-12-4.htm
www.kycbs.net/Doc-Guttman-To-AAA-6-19-4.pdf
Apartheid, Hawaiian Style
www.kycbs.net/Apartheid-Hawaii.htm
Broken Trust - The Book
www.kycbs.net/Broken-Trust-Book.htm
Lost Generations
www.kycbs.net/Lost-Generations.htm
TO GO TO THE WOO VS. HARMON WITNESS INDEX
Originally posted: July 1, 2005
Latest update: April 24, 2008
* * * * *
CHRONOLOGY
July 1, 2005: Originally posted on www.the-catbird-seat.net
March 13, 2007: Judge David Ezra signs Order to shut down website
August 19, 2009: Latest update on www.kycbs.net
~ ~ ~
THE CATBIRD SEAT ARCHIVES
The Catbird Seat Archives: 2000-2002
The Catbird Seat Archives: 2002-2007
* * * * *