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
HENRY H. PETERS
c/o Kenneth Hipp, Esq., Marr Hipp Jones & Wang
1001 Bishop Street, Ste 1550
Honolulu, HI 96813
Henry H. Peters is a former Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate Trustee; Chairman of the Board, P&C Insurance Company; Defendant in EQ2048; Real Party in Interest in CV05-00030 - Mary Lou Woo, Trustee vs Harmon; Office of the United States Trustee vs. Harmon, James Nicholson, Trustee vs. Harmon and David C. Farmer, Trustee vs. Harmon.
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JULY 24, 2009
Jersey Mayors Stung in Graft Probe
By AMIR EFRATI, SUZANNE SATALINE and DIONNE SEARCEY
New Jersey has never been short of corruption scandals, but the one that unfolded yesterday was surprising even by the standards of the state that inspired "The Sopranos."
Federal agents swept across New Jersey and New York on Thursday, charging 44 people -- including mayors, rabbis and even one alleged trafficker in human kidneys -- in a decade long investigation into public corruption and international money laundering.
The key to the investigation: a real-estate developer who became an informant after being arrested on bank-fraud charges in 2006, according to a person familiar with the case. The developer, Solomon Dwek, wore a wire for the Federal Bureau of Investigation while offering to bribe New Jersey mayors and other public officials, that person said.
A lawyer for Mr. Dwek didn't respond to requests for comment.
While the state has a long history of dirty politics -- in Newark alone, three ex-mayors have been convicted of crimes unrelated to the latest sweep -- the scale of the allegations shocked veterans of New Jersey's political crises....
The arrests place an added burden on Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat in his first term who is running for re-election this year. Mr. Corzine ran four years ago promising to quash corruption. "The scale of corruption we're seeing as this unfolds is simply outrageous and cannot be tolerated," he said in a statement....
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124835404608875685.html
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(Catbird Note: New Jersey is the home of The Chubb Group!)* * * * *
"ZOOMING IN ON HENRY H. PETERS" - (An Exhibit from CV05-00030 - U.S. Dept of Justice vs Harmon)
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 1:58 PM
From:
Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU
To:
"President Barack Obama" <president@whitehouse.gov>, "U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder" <AskDOJ@usdoj.gov>, "David Farmer" <farmerd001@hawaii.rr.com>, "Steven Guttman" <sguttman@kdubm.com>, "Carol K. Muranaka" <ustp.region15@usdoj.gov>, "Judge David A. Ezra" <theresa_lam@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Judge Kevin S.C. Chang" <shari_afuso@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Judge Barry M. Kurren" <tammy_kimura@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Securities & Exchange Commission Enforcement Division" <enforcement@sec.gov>, "U.S. Treasury Dept. Office of Inspector General" <hotline@oig.treas.gov>, "Office of Inspector General US Dept of Justice" <oig.hotline@usdoj.gov>, "Executive Office for U.S. Trustees" <ustrustee.program@usdoj.gov>, "Judge Robert Faris" <hib@hib.uscourts.gov>, "SEC Office of The Inspector General" <oig@sec.gov>, "Hawaii State Bar Association" <info@hsba.org>, "Charles Goodwin" <HONOLULU@FBI.GOV>, "Hugh Jones" <hugh.r.jones@hawaii.gov>, "Insurance Division Fraud Branch" <insfraud@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Lawrence Reifurth" <dcca@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Linda Lingle" <governor.lingle@hawaii.gov>, "Jo Ann Uchida" <rico@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Office of Inspector General Civil Rights Complaints" <inspector.general@usdoj.gov>, "Mark Bennett" <hawaiiag@hawaii.gov>, "American Arbitration Association" <webcase@adr.org>, "Judith Neustadter" <Judy@tiki.net>, "Benjamin J. Cayetano" <bjcayetano@aol.com>, "Lokelani Lindsey" <lindseyl001@hawaii.rr.com>, "ACLU Hawaii" <office@acluhawaii.org>, "All Representatives" <reps@Capitol.hawaii.gov>, "All Senators" <sens@Capitol.hawaii.gov>, "Andrew Walden" <hfpeditor@email.com>, "Aon Insurance Managers" <mike_coulter@agl.aon.com>, "Arthur Rath" <imua@spamarrest.com>, "Benjamin Kudo" <bkudo@imanakakudo.com>, "Bradley Tamm" <btamm@hawaii.rr.com>, "Carl Morton" <ethics@hawaiiethics.org>, "Charles Hurd" <mcp@mediatehawaii.org>, "David Shapiro" <volcanicash@gmail.com>, "Dee Jay Mailer" <ksinfo@ksbe.edu>, "J C Shannon" <Hapa1234@aol.com>, "James B Nicholson" <jamesbnicholson@aol.com>, "James B. Farris" <Farrisj@adr.org>, "James Cribley" <jcribley@caselombardi.com>, "James Wriston" <jwriston@awlaw.com>, "Jeffrey Watanabe" <jwatanabe@wik.com>, "Jim Dooley" <jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com>, "Joe Moore" <news@khon2.com>, "John D. Finnegan" <info@chubb.com>, "John Goemans" <wip@kamuela.com>, "Judson Witham" <jurisnot2@yahoo.com>, "Ken Conklin" <ken_conklin@yahoo.com>, "Lyn Flanigan Anzai" <lflanigan@hsba.org>, "Margery Bronster" <info@bchlaw.net>, "Marsh Affinity Group" <prosecure@marshpm.com>, "Michael N. Tanoue" <mtanoue@paclawgroup.com>, "Michelle Tucker" <michelle@sterlingandtucker.com>, "Nathan Aipa" <nathan@pitluck.com>, "Paul Alston" <palston@ahfi.com>, "Randall Roth" <rroth@hawaii.edu>, "Rick Daysog" <rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com>, "Robert Bruce Graham" <bgraham@awlaw.com>, "Robin Campaniano" <aigh001@aighawaii.com>, "Samuel P. King" <leslie_sai@hid.uscourts.gov>, "William K Slate" <Websitemail@adr.org>, "Jim Terrack" <tnthawaii@aol.com>, "Rocco Sansone" <rocco.c.sansone@marsh.com>, "Ted Pettit" <tpettit@caselombardi.com>, "Laura Thielen" <dlnr@hawaii.gov>, "Vaughn & Lynda Robinson" <ronpaulslcutah@yahoo.com>, "Rebecca Christie" <rchristie4@bloomberg.net>, "Catbird" <the-catbird@hotmail.com>, "James Duca" <jduca@kdubm.com>, "Ian Lind" <diary@ilind.net>, "Roy F. Hughes" <hthughes@hawaii.rr.com>, "Malia Zimmerman" <Malia@hawaiireporter.com>, "Jack Cashill" <JCashill@aol.com>, "Marshall Chriswell" <mc@whistleblowers.org>, "Laser Haas" <laserhaas@msn.com>, "Lucy Komisar" <lkomisar@msn.com>, "Democrats.com" <activist@democrats.com>, "Debra Sweet" <debrasweet@worldcantwait.org>, "Jane Kirtley" <kirt001@umn.edu>, "John Jubinsky" <Jube@tghawaii.com>, "Yamil Berard" <yberard@star-telegram.com>, "Global Exchange" <communications@globalexchange.org>, "William K. Black" <blackw@umkc.edu>, "Carole Williams" <cjwms@up.net>, "Susan Tius" <STius@rmhawaii.com>, "Human Rights in China" <hrichina@hrichina.org>, "Michelle Malkin" <writemalkin@gmail.com>, "Heather Vsn Doren" <heather.vandoran@yahoo.com>, "Phil J. Berg" <philjberg@obamacrimes.com>, "Amnesty International U.S.A." <aimember@aiusa.org>, "Michael Moore" <bailout@michaelmoore.com>, "California Anti-SLAPP Project" <info@casp.net>, "Thomas Fitton" <info@judicialwatch.org>, "Ron Branson" <VictoryUSA@jail4judges.org>, "ACLU of Kentucky" <info@aclu-ky.org>, "ACLU Online" <ACLUOnline@aclu.org>
Henry H. Peters
Bishop Estate Trustee and A Member of Board of Directors
Xiamen
Henry's profile was created using: 80 online sources
Sort By:
1-10 of 80 online sources for Henry Peters
http://www.kycbs.net/IndonesianConnection.htm
Published on: 5/16/2009 Last Visited: 5/16/2009
Henry Peters, a Bishop Estate trustee and a member of Xiamen's board of directors ,
conceded that the volatile Hong Kong market may delay Xiamen's initial public offering.
But he said the bank's partners are committed to taking it public, which would greatly
enhance the estate's investment. . . .
...
Peters was a director of the local affiliate Panin North America Inc. in 1983 when he
was a legislator, according to filings with the state Ethics Commission. ...
http://www.kycbs.net/Bishop6.htm
Published on: 6/30/2006 Last Visited: 5/16/2009
More than 150 members of the public attended the forum held at the Hale Koa Hotel
and several asked questions including ousted Bishop Estate trustee Henry Peters, who
showed up at the forum with a second ousted trustee, Dickie Wong.
...
Sen. Marshall Ige , who called trustee Henry Peters his "role model," also landed in jail
for a year.
http://www.kycbs.net/main/page_confessions.html
Published on: 8/21/2006 Last Visited: 5/16/2009
As you will recall, we discussed my concerns with respect to "arms-length" issues between Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate (KSBE) and P&C, as they related to what I believed were efforts to direct and control the operations of P&C by my superior, Nathan Aipa, Esq., by Louanne Kam, Esq. and by Henry H. Peters, who is a Trustee of Bishop Estate, as well as Chairman of the Board of Directors for P&C.
http://www.kycbs.net/American-Express.htm
Published on: 8/8/2006 Last Visited: 5/16/2009
Kamehameha Schools' lead investment trustee, Henry Peters , stated that they were going to put Xiamen International Bank on the N.Y. stock exchange.
http://www.kycbs.net/Bishop.htm
Published on: 5/16/2009 Last Visited: 5/16/2009
The purchasers allege Bishop Estate was both the buyer and the seller (BE trustee
Henry Peters also served on the golf club's board of trustees), and also had failed to
inform them of a $33 million development debt they would have to pay off -- to Bishop
Estate.
...
While a director of Mid Ocean, estate trustee Henry Peters received substantial
director's fees and received options to acquire 6,000 shares of Mid Ocean Stock.
...
1996 - In October, Bobby Harmon , the estate's Risk Manager and president of P&C
Insurance, reports suspected fraud and collusion between Trustee Henry Peters;
Nathan Aipa, the estate's general counsel, and Marsh & McLennan, Inc. to the
organizations' auditors, Coopers & Lybrand.
...
The multibillion-dollar estate's five trustees include former Senate President Richard
Wong, and former House Speaker Henry Peters.
...
At the direction of Henry Peters and other managers for KSBE, premiums that should
have been charged to subsidiaries were actually paid by KSBE.
...
Henry Peters - Ex-trustee of Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate.
From the RICO lawsuit : Civil No. CV 99 00304-DAE - Harmon v. Federal Insurance
Co., P&C Insurance Co. Inc.; Marsh & McLennan, Inc., PricewaterhouseCoopers, et
al : . . .
Defendant Trustee Henry H. Peters, was appointed in 1984 by the Justices of the
Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii, acting as individuals, and was entrusted with the
fiduciary duty to administer the Estate of Bernice Pauahi Bishop for the education of the
children of Hawaii...
...
Peters has also served on the Board of Directors of Mid-Ocean Reinsurance Co. (a
Bermuda company); Underwriters Capital (Merritt) Insurance Co. (a Bermuda
company); SoCal Holdings, Inc.; and numerous other companies owned by, or related
to, KSBE....
...
Peters became lead trustee for asset management in 1993 and assumed responsibility
for Trust investments and for due diligence on prospective investments....
Peters as lead trustee purposely withheld information on existing and potential
investments from his co-Trustees, dismantled the Trust's internal audit function,
instructed staff employees to withhold information from the co-Trustees, and used his
position to approve Trust payment of improper non-Trust expenditures....
As to Peters, the effect of these violations has been that Trust assets have been
mismanaged and misspent to the detriment of the Trust purpose. . . .
Trustees Peters, Wong, and Lindsey have violated their duty of loyalty to the
Beneficiaries by using their positions as Trustees and by using Trust assets and
opportunities to benefit themselves and their relatives and friends....
In 1992, the Trust invested approximately $31 million in Mid Ocean, Ltd. (Mid Ocean), a
Bermuda-based insurance company, and acquired 310,000 Mid Ocean Class A shares.
. . . In 1993, when Matsuo Takabuki retired as a Trustee of the Trust, Peters
succeeded to Takabuki's seat as a director of Mid Ocean. . . . Peters served as a Mid
Ocean director until early 1998. . . . Peters' service as a Mid Ocean director fell within
his duties as Trustee and was a Trust opportunity. . . . While a director of Mid Ocean,
Peters received substantial director's fees and received options to acquire 6,000 shares
of Mid Ocean stock. . . . The Mid Ocean fees and stock options are assets that belong
to the Trust and not to Peters individually. . . . Peters has enriched himself at the
expense of the Beneficiaries by retaining the fees and stock options for his personal
benefit. (Note: Marsh & McLennan, and its subsidiary, Guy Carpenter, were major
players in the creation and management of Mid-Ocean.)...
...
EMBATTLED EMPIRE . . . Larry Landry, former chief financial officer for the $4 billion
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which is a co-investor with the
estate in a Boston-based investment fund and a Florida apartment complex, describes
Peters as a savvy and thorough investment manager. . . . Deal promoters often
approach large foundations and charitable trusts thinking they have deep pockets.
...
But Peters brings a healthy skepticism to anyone who brings an investment to the
estate, according to Landry....
"Henry is extremely bright and has the right kind of conservative (investment)
philosophy," said Landry, who now serves as CEO of Florida-based Westport Realty
Advisers....
...
Peters, charges stand out in lengthy Bishop Estate investigation. The state's exhaustive
investigation into the Bishop Estate appears to focus on trustee Henry Peters as a
central figure in the two-year controversy that's rocked the multibillion-dollar charitable
trust....
In a September Probate Court petition to permanently remove several trustees,
Attorney General Margery Bronster alleged that Peters took part in repeated acts of
self-dealing and mismanagement.
...
The state's charges include: ... Between 1993 and 1998, Peters received options to
acquire 6,000 shares of stock as well as substantial director's fees from a Bermuda-based insurance company, Mid Ocean Ltd. The estate was a big investor in Mid Ocean.
Peters has since declined to exercise the stock options, which would have been worth
more that $400,000 under Mid Oceans's 1993 merger with competitor Exel Ltd.
[another Marsh & McLennan financial venture]....
Peters directed trust managers and the estate's former Royal Hawaiian Shopping
Center subsidiary to hire his friends and relatives for unbudgeted positions and outside
consulting work, according to the state.
...
Along with his fellow trustees, Peters received compensation well above that of
comparable organizations. In 1997, each trustee earned about $840,000 in
commissions.
Peters and fellow trustees also spent more than $900,000 of trust money to lobby
Congress against the passage of federal legislation limiting salaries for board members
of charitable trusts....
...
Two weeks after a state judge temporarily removed four of the five trustees of the
Bishop Estate, the state attorney general's office today filed court papers in a separate
proceeding spelling out why trustees Henry Peters and Richard "Dickie" Wong should
be temporarily ousted from their $1 million-a-year jobs. . . . In an 89-page proposed
findings of fact, Deputy Attorney General Hugh Jones argued that Peters and Wong
helped conceal $350 million in trust income that should have been spent on the estate-run Kamehameha Schools, paid themselves $131,000 more than they were entitled to
and failed to adopt strict conflict-of-interest policies at the trust....
...
See also: Henry Peters; William Simon; Xiamen International Bank
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2
Published on: 1/9/2008 Last Visited: 1/9/2008
That sale deal was spearheaded by former Kamehameha Schools trustee Henry Peters, who also served as a trustee of the golf club.
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Fasi-Frank.htm
Published on: 1/10/2003 Last Visited: 12/24/2008
Without admitting or denying wrongdoing, the $6 billion charitable trust agreed to settle with the commission, ending the only remaining investigation of the Kamehameha Schools' former trustees Henry Peters, Richard "Dickie" Wong, Lokelani Lindsey, Oswald Stender and Gerard Jervis.
http://www.petersresort.com/index.html
Published on: 9/1/2007 Last Visited: 9/1/2007
What our founder Henry Peters wrote in 1915 is still true today: Peters Sunset Beach
offers "the good life of rest, recreation, tasty food, and good fellowship."
It's all here.
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Mailer-Dee-Jay.htm
Last Visited: 6/1/2008
McCubbin's appointment in January 2000 as the school's first CEO was hailed as a major milestone in the controversy surrounding the removal of former Bishop Estate trustees Henry Peters, Richard "Dickie" Wong, Lokelani Lindsey, Oswald Stender and Gerard Jervis.
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Guttman-Steven.htm
Published on: 12/24/2008 Last Visited: 12/24/2008
The annual report lists Henry H. Peters as a director. The Attorney General is unable to
determine whether the listing is incorrect; or whether Peters remains a director in
violation of court order.
...
4, Exhibit 2 is a true and correct letter of my February 15, 2000 letter to counsel for the
trust asking for verification that Henry Peters had resigned from P&C and the effective
date of the resignation.
...
Finally, we also requested some time ago copies of Henry Peters' letters of resignation
from directorships and ex officio positions, and specifically from P&C Insurance
Company. Although the resignation letters of the other trustees were filed with the
Court, Peters' were not.
...
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.:
http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/ReferencesView.aspx?PersonID=150700367
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June 10, 2009
Dear President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Trustee Farmer, Mr. Guttman, Ms. Neustadter, Judge Kevin Chang, Judge David Ezra, and All Concerned:
I am adding the subject Exhibit as it relates to this lawsuit which violates my Constitutional Rights of Free Speech and a Fair Trial, and Federal and Hawaii Anti-SLAPP statutes.
You will find related information on-line at:
http://www.kycbs.net/Broken-Trust-Book.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Lost-Generations.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Anzai-Earl.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Anzai-Lyn.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Peters-Henry.htm
In view of all the facts that I have presented in this and hundreds of other Exhibits and witness descriptions, it is beyond comprehension that former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; Assistant U.S. Trustees Curtis Ching, Gayle Lau and Carol Muranaka; Judges Eden Hifo (fka Bambi Weil), Kevin Chang, David Ezra, Barry Kurren, Lloyd King and Robert Faris; Trustees Mary Lou Woo, James Nicholson and David C. Farmer; American Arbitration Association arbitrator Judith Neustadter Fuqua, attorney Steven Guttman, and others, can still claim that they were non-conflicted, fair, impartial, and unbiased in this case.
Mr. Farmer and Mr. Guttman, in spite of all this factual evidence (not just "political opinions" or "conspiracy theories" as you have previously alleged), I am again asking that we attempt to reach a global settlement of this matter through confidential negotiation or mediation rather than continuing these costly and seemingly-endless court proceedings.
However, if you, and your insurance carriers, are still not willing to attempt to negotiate or mediate a settlement, then I ask that you perform your mandated review of this new Exhibit in accordance with Judge Ezra's Order, and advise me if you find it contains any so-called "protected subject matter", and whether or not you intend to OBJECT to my filing a Motion to reopen this case.
I respectfully request your immediate reply. If I do not receive a response from you or your insurance carrier within 15 days, I will assume that you have found no "PSM" in these updated pages, and that you will NOT file any objections to my Motion.
Very truly yours,
Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU, ARM
Additional References:
http://www.kycbs.net/Apartheid-Hawaii.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Broken-Trust-Book.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Confessions.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Freedom-To-Sing.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/JUSTICE.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Lost-Generations.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/RICO-in-Paradise.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/SLAPP.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Whistler.htm
http://whistlersongs.blogspot.com
http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/ReferencesView.aspx?PersonID=912950374
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GOOGLING FOR THE INDONESIAN CONNECTION
http://www.kycbs.net/Google-Indonesian-Connection.mht
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NEW DISCOVERY (04-17-09): More evidence of fraud, bad faith, racketeering, money-laundering, undisclosed conflicts of interests, etc. between numerous entities and witnesses involved in this case:
April 17, 2009
AIG Hawaii sold to Farmers
State's 3rd-largest automobile insurer will change names when deal is done in summer
BY GREG WILES, Advertiser Staff Writer
AIG Hawaii, the state's third-largest automobile insurer, is being sold as part of a $1.9 billion deal as owner American International Group Inc. takes steps to repay some of the billions owed in government bailout money.
The deal announced yesterday involves Los Angeles-based Farmers Group Inc. buying AIG's auto insurance unit, a move that will expand Farmers into Hawai'i for the first time.
Yesterday Farmers Chief Executive Officer Robert Woudstra said that Farmers had no immediate plans to make any changes to AIG Hawaii's 310-person staff or operations.
"It's a good fit," Woudstra said from his Los Angeles office, explaining Farmers does not have any business in the state currently.
He said, however, the AIG Hawaii name will disappear.
"I can't tell you right now what we're going to call it, but the AIG name will have to go away."
AIG Hawaii had been contemplating a name change on its own given the stigma of being associated with its parent company, which had severe financial problems and needed a Federal Reserve-led rescue to avoid collapse last year.
In October, AIG put its auto group on the market as it looked for ways to pay off some of the bailout, which now totals about $182.5 billion.
AIG Hawaii President and Chief Executive Officer Robin Campaniano yesterday called the sale a positive development for the local unit. In 2008 AIG Hawaii's premiums written fell to about $100 million, about $18 million less than a year earlier.
Campaniano said some of the decline may have been due to clients departing because of the parent company's problems. A downturn in the Hawai'i economy contributed also.
"We're delighted that this is happening," said Campaniano.
"We're hopeful and very optimistic that the strength of Zurich and Farmers will greatly add to the presence we have in Hawai'i."
Farmers is owned by Zurich Financial Services Group, a Swiss company that serves customers in 170 countries and has business customers in Hawai'i.
AIG Hawaii insures about 100,000 cars in Hawai'i, along with offering homeowners, life, commercial and other insurance. Only Geico and State Farm insure more cars in the state.
Woudstra said he became familiar with the Hawai'i operations in examining AIG's business and that "it has performed exceedingly well for AIG."
"The only product that they write that we don't is flood (insurance)."
He said he had gotten good reports about Campaniano, with people saying nothing but positive things about his reputation.
The AIG automobile business was operated under a unit known as 21st Century Insurance Group, which owned AIG Hawaii as well as running operations in 28 other states. The sale will require the approval of state insurance commissioners.
Yesterday Hawai'i Insurance Commissioner J.P. Schmidt said he would closely look at the deal because of the role AIG Hawaii plays in the state.
"Farmers and Zurich are both good, solid companies, so that's a good thing," Schmidt said. "But we'll be looking at the details and specifics to ensure that the people of Hawai'i are taken care of in the best possible manner.”
The sale may be completed this summer. Schmidt said he and other insurance commissioners had been working on a uniform application process so that the sale approval can be processed efficiently.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009904170352
# # #
Catbird Note: More pages related to “good, solid companies,” Farmers and Zurich:
http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/0060-2007/nr091-2007.cfm
http://www.farmersinsurancegroupsucks.com/farmers_insurance_lawsuits.htm
~ ~ ~
See also: http://www.voy.com/129276/1328.html
~ ~ ~
From Harmon’s RICO Lawsuit:
From Equity No. 2048, Petition of the Attorney General on Behalf of the Trust Beneficiaries to Remove and Surcharge Trustees:
“The Trustees have been unfaithful to the Will and the purpose of the Trust. They have failed to comply with clear directives of the Will. They have subordinated the sole purpose of the Trust to their personal gain. They have squandered Trust assets intended for education by their excessive compensation, and by imprudent and improper Trust management and investments. They have violated Hawaii statutes and court orders. They have engendered hostility between themselves and the Beneficiaries whose interests the Trustees were appointed to serve.
. . . Peters became lead trustee for asset management in 1993 and assumed responsibility for Trust investments and for due diligence on prospective investments.
Peters as lead trustee purposely withheld information on existing and potential investments from his co-Trustees, dismantled the Trust’s internal audit function, instructed staff employees to withhold information from the co-Trustees, and used his position to approve Trust payment of improper non-Trust expenditures.
. . . As to Peters, the effect of these violations has been that Trust assets have been mismanaged and misspent to the detriment of the Trust purpose.
. . . Trustees Peters, Wong, and Lindsey have violated their duty of loyalty to the Beneficiaries by using their positions as Trustees and by using Trust assets and opportunities to benefit themselves and their relatives and friends.
. . . In 1992, the Trust invested approximately $31 million in Mid Ocean, Ltd. (Mid Ocean), a Bermuda-based insurance company, and acquired 310,000 Mid Ocean Class A shares.
In 1993, when Matsuo Takabuki retired as a Trustee of the Trust, Peters succeeded to Takabuki’s seat as a director of Mid Ocean.
Peters served as a Mid Ocean director until early 1998.
Peters’ service as a Mid Ocean director fell within his duties as Trustee and was a Trust opportunity.
Peters used Trust personnel to prepare him for Mid Ocean directors’ meetings.
While a director of Mid Ocean, Peters received substantial director’s fees and received options to acquire 6,000 shares of Mid Ocean stock.
The Mid Ocean fees and stock options are assets that belong to the Trust and not to Peters individually.
Peters has enriched himself at the expense of the Beneficiaries by retaining the fees and stock options for his personal benefit.
(Note: Marsh & McLennan, and its subsidiary, Guy Carpenter, were major players in the creation and management of Mid-Ocean.)
. . . During his 1986, 1988, 1990, and 1992 political campaigns while a Trustee, Peters used Trust employees to photograph his and his supporters for his campaign materials, in violation of Trust restrictions on political activity by the Trust and its employees.
. . . The Trust presently qualifies as a charitable non-profit entity under the Internal Revenue Code and thus is exempt from federal, state, and local income and other taxes.
Maintaining the tax exempt status is critical to the Trust and its ability to serve its intended purpose.
The Trustees’ duty to protect the interests of the Beneficiaries includes zealously protecting the Trust’s tax-exempt status.
By taking excessive compensation and by using Trust assets for private inurement, the Trustees have imperiled the Trust’s tax-exempt status and hence the full effectuation of the Trust’s purpose.”
Beginning around March 1996, Harmon began questioning what appeared to be excessive premium charges being made by M&M for KSBE’s property insurance, and for the fees M&M was billing to P&C. He again raised the issue of his job transfer from KSBE to P&C.
For the next several months, Plaintiff was subjected to threats, intimidation and various abuses from Aipa and Kam for questioning the excessive fees of M&M and his transfer to P&C. In a meeting in early 1996, with Aipa and Sansone, Harmon asked Aipa about the status of his transfer. Aipa’s response was that it wasn’t going to happen because “arms-length was no longer an issue,” (referring to previous legal opinions from Price Waterhouse that the IRS might revoke the Trust’s tax-exempt status if it did not maintain arms-length from its taxable subsidiaries).
On October 11, 1996, Harmon was called into a meeting with Peters and Aipa. At this meeting, Peters instructed Harmon that he was to report to Aipa on all matters relating to P&C. Peters also stated that he would hold Aipa responsible for all matters relating to P&C. He also informed Harmon that he could be replaced as President of P&C if he failed to follow Aipa’s directives.
On November 20, 1996, Peters made good with his threat and terminated Harmon’s appointment as President of P&C. No explanation was given for the termination.
Harmon was also terminated by Aipa from his position as Risk/Insurance & Safety Manager for KSBE, allegedly due to “differences in philosphy”.
Plaintiff Harmon alleges that a major reason for his terminations was his refusal to follow the directives of Henry Peters, Nathan Aipa and Louanne Kam for to pay M&M substantial fees for work that was not under contract and which was not justified.
These “sweetheart deals” with M&M, and the threats to Harmon that he could be terminated for failing to follow the directives of Peters, Aipa and Kam to “go along” with these improper deals, constitute conspiracy to defraud the beneficiaries of the Estate of Bernice Pauahi Bishop; racketeering; mail fraud; wire fraud; extortion; breach of fiduciary duties; and violations of the Interim Sanctions provisions of the IRS Code, as detailed in Plaintiff’s complaint.
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (04-01-09): More undisclosed conflicts of interests between Judges David Ezra, Kevin Chang, Eden Elizabeth Hifo, Barry Kurren and Nathan Aipa, Henry Peters, etc.:
CV05-00030 - U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the U.S. Trustee, David C. Farmer, Trustee vs. Bobby N. Harmon-Exhibit: "Ex-trustee Peters sues trust's former counsel" & Witnesses: Henry Peters, Nathan Aipa, etc.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009 2:58 PM
From:
Bobby N. Harmon
To:
"Barack H. Obama" <info@barackobama.com>, "Eric Holder" <AskDOJ@usdoj.gov>, "David Farmer" <farmerd001@hawaii.rr.com>, "Steven Guttman" <sguttman@kdubm.com>, "Carol K. Muranaka" <ustp.region15@usdoj.gov>, "David A. Ezra" <theresa_lam@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Judith Neustadter" <Judy@tiki.net>, "Kevin S.C. Chang" <shari_afuso@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Barry M. Kurren" <tammy_kimura@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Securities & Exchange Commission Enforcement Division" <enforcement@sec.gov>, "U.S. Treasury Dept. Office of Inspector General" <hotline@oig.treas.gov>, "Office of Inspector General US Dept of Justice" <oig.hotline@usdoj.gov>, "Executive Office for U.S. Trustees" <ustrustee.program@usdoj.gov>, "Robert Faris" <hib@hib.uscourts.gov>, "Anthony Romero" <Executive_director@aclu.org>, "ACLU of Kentucky" <info@aclu-ky.org>, "Electronic Freedom Foundation" <information@eff.org>, "Public Citizen" <publiccitizen@mail.democracyinaction.org>, "Thomas Fitton" <info@judicialwatch.org>, "SEC Office of The Inspector General" <oig@sec.gov>
Cc:
"ACLU Hawaii" <office@acluhawaii.org>, "All Representatives" <reps@Capitol.hawaii.gov>, "All Senators" <sens@Capitol.hawaii.gov>, "Andrew Walden" <hfpeditor@email.com>, "Aon Insurance Managers" <mike_coulter@agl.aon.com>, "Arthur Rath" <imua@spamarrest.com>, "Benjamin Kudo" <bkudo@imanakakudo.com>, "Bradley Tamm" <btamm@hawaii.rr.com>, "Carl Morton" <ethics@hawaiiethics.org>, "Charles Goodwin" <HONOLULU@FBI.GOV>, "Charles Hurd" <mcp@mediatehawaii.org>, "David Shapiro" <volcanicash@gmail.com>, "Dee Jay Mailer" <ksinfo@ksbe.edu>, "Dorothy Sellers" <hawaiiag@hawaii.gov>, "Executive Office for U.S. Trustees" <ustrustee.program@usdoj.gov>, "Hugh Jones" <hugh.r.jones@hawaii.gov>, "Insurance Division Fraud Branch" <insfraud@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "J C Shannon" <Hapa1234@aol.com>, "James B Nicholson" <jamesbnicholson@aol.com>, "James B. Farris" <Farrisj@adr.org>, "James Cribley" <jcribley@caselombardi.com>, "James Wriston" <jwriston@awlaw.com>, "Jeffrey Watanabe" <jwatanabe@wik.com>, "Jim Dooley" <jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com>, "Jo Ann Uchida" <rico@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Joe Moore" <news@khon2.com>, "John D. Finnegan" <info@chubb.com>, "John Goemans" <wip@kamuela.com>, "Judge Lloyd King" <hib@hib.uscourts.gov>, "Judith Neustadter" <Judy@tiki.net>, "Judson Witham" <jurisnot2@yahoo.com>, "Ken Conklin" <ken_conklin@yahoo.com>, "Kenneth Hipp" <khipp@marrhipp.com>, "Lawrence Reifurth" <dcca@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Linda Lingle" <governor.lingle@hawaii.gov>, "Lyn Flanigan Anzai" <lflanigan@hsba.org>, "Margery Bronster" <info@bchlaw.net>, "Marsh Affinity Group" <prosecure@marshpm.com>, "Michael N. Tanoue" <mtanoue@paclawgroup.com>, "Michelle Tucker" <michelle@sterlingandtucker.com>, "Nathan Aipa" <nathan@pitluck.com>, "Office of Inspector General Civil Rights Complaints" <inspector.general@usdoj.gov>, "Office of the U.S. Trustee District of Hawaii" <ustp.region15@usdoj.goV>, "Paul Alston" <palston@ahfi.com>, "Randall Roth" <rroth@hawaii.edu>, "Rick Daysog" <rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com>, "Robert Bruce Graham" <bgraham@awlaw.com>, "Robin Campaniano" <aigh001@aighawaii.com>, "Samuel P. King" <leslie_sai@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Susan Tius" <STius@rmhawaii.com>, "William K Slate" <Websitemail@adr.org>, "Jim Terrack" <tnthawaii@aol.com>, "Don Michak" <dmichak@journalinquirer.com>, "Rocco Sansone" <rocco.c.sansone@marsh.com>, "Ted Pettit" <tpettit@caselombardi.com>, "Mark Burch" <burch@hawaii.edu>, "Laura Thielen" <dlnr@hawaii.gov>, "Vaughn & Lynda Robinson" <ronpaulslcutah@yahoo.com>, "Rebecca Christie" <rchristie4@bloomberg.net>, "Catbird" <the-catbird@hotmail.com>, "James Duca" <jduca@kdubm.com>, "Ian Lind" <diary@ilind.net>, "Roy F. Hughes" <hthughes@hawaii.rr.com>, "Malia Zimmerman" <Malia@hawaiireporter.com>, "Elisa Yadao" <Ka_Hana@notes.k12.hi.us>, "Jack Cashill" <JCashill@aol.com>, "Marshall Chriswell" <mc@whistleblowers.org>, "Tom Flocco" <tom2@tomflocco.com>, "Eric Shine" <civilrights911@socal.rr.com>, "Laser Haas" <laserhaas@msn.com>, "Lucy Komisar" <lkomisar@msn.com>, "Democrats.com" <activist@democrats.com>, "Debra Sweet" <debrasweet@worldcantwait.org>, "Jane Kirtley" <kirt001@umn.edu>, "V K Durham" <vkdtdht@pionet.net>, "John Jubinsky" <Jube@tghawaii.com>, "Yamil Berard" <yberard@star-telegram.com>, "Ian McDonald" <ian.mcdonald@wsj.com>, "Michael Moore" <bailout@michaelmoore.com>
Posted on: Friday, July 25, 2003
Ex-trustee Peters sues trust's former counsel
By Curtis Lum, Advertiser Staff Writer
Former Bishop Estate trustee Henry Peters has filed a lawsuit against former Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate general counsel Nathan Aipa, charging that Aipa violated attorney-client confidentiality.
The lawsuit was filed yesterday in state Circuit Court by attorney Eric Seitz on behalf of Peters. It named Aipa as a defendant, but did not include KSBE, now known as Kamehameha Schools.
Peters is seeking an undisclosed amount in damages. Aipa could not be reached for comment.
Peters was a trustee of the Bishop Estate from 1984 until he resigned in December 1999 amidst allegations that he and the other trustees mismanaged the billion-dollar trust and abused their power. Aipa served as chief counsel of KSBE from 1985 to 2001 and is now in private practice.
In the lawsuit, Peters said he met regularly with Aipa and provided information to the counsel pertaining to Peters' role as a trustee. Peters "reasonably expected and relied upon the confidentiality of his communications with Aipa," the lawsuit stated.
But Peters' lawsuit said that beginning in 1998, Aipa "repeatedly" disclosed the confidential information to "various parties and entities." Aipa also repeated confidential information at grand jury proceedings, the lawsuit said.
Peters said Aipa did not seek or receive any waiver of the attorney-client privilege.
As a result of Aipa's actions, the suit said, Peters suffered "severe and continuing damage" to his reputation and a loss of income.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Jul/25/ln/ln24a.html
# # #
References:
http://www.kycbs.net/Broken-Trust-Book.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/KSpension.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Lost-Generations.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/PC-Coopers-Lybrand-11-20-96.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/AAA-IRS-10-10-0.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Claims-Branch-Kamehameha.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Claims-Branch-P-C.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Confessions.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-OUST-vs-Harmon.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Aipa-Nathan.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Peters-Henry.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Freedom-To-Sing.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Harmon-Arbitration.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/JUSTICE.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/RICO-BH.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/SLAPP.htm
April 1, 2009
Dear President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Mr. Farmer; Mr. Guttman; Ms. Muranaka; Judge Ezra, Judge Chang, Judge Kurren, and All Concerned:
Due to the new discovery of material facts in this case, I am adding the subject Exhibit which provides evidence of breach of confidentiality and attorney-client priviledge in this case as well as in the Peters vs. Aipa case described in this news article. The financial, professional, political and personal relationships between these two individuals (as shown in their witness descriptions), also provides factual evidence of undisclosed conflicts of interest among various entities involved in this lawsuit, including many, if not all, of the judges involved.
In view of all the facts that I have presented in this and hundreds of other Exhibits and witness descriptions, it is beyond comprehension that Judges Eden Hifo (fka Bambi Weil), Kevin Chang, David Ezra, Barry Kurren, Lloyd King, and Robert Faris, and Trustees Mary Lou Woo, James Nicholson, and David C. Farmer; the American Arbitration Association arbitrator Judith Neustadter Fuqua, and attorney Steven Guttman can still claim that they were non-conflicted, impartial, and unbiased in this case.
In spite of all this factual evidence, however, I am again asking that we attempt to reach a global settlement of this matter through confidential negotiation or mediation rather than continuing these costly and seemingly-endless court proceedings.
If you still are NOT willing to attempt to negotiate or mediate a settlement, then I ask that you do your required review this new Exhibit and advise me if you find it contains any so-called "protected subject matter", and whether or not you intend to OBJECT to my filing a Motion to reopen this case.
Mr. Farmer, I respectfully request your immediate reply. If I do not receive a response from you or your insurance carrier within 15 days, I will assume that you have found no "protected subject matter" in these updated pages, and that you will NOT file any objections to my Motion.
Very truly yours,
Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU, ARM
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (11-24-08): New Exhibit: “EQ 2048 - Deposition of Lokelani Lindsey taken on November 4 & 9, 1999". This document provides clear evidence that J. Douglas Ing had multiple conflicts-of-interest in this case and, since he was not a named Defendant in my RICO lawsuit against the former Trustees, he was not a legitimate signatory to the Settlement Agreement: Furthermore, since the Settlement Agreement was NOT SIGNED by any of the five Trustees actually named as Defendants, the Settlement Agreement was not legal or valid. (See Exhibit A)
http://www.kycbs.net/Lindsey-docs-Vol-1-p1-4.pdf
http://www.kycbs.net/Lindsey-docs-Vol-1.pdf
~ ~ ~
NEW UPDATE (09-07-08):
EARL I. ANZAI
Attorney General of Hawaii
DOROTHY D. SELLERS
HUGH R. JONES
Deputy Attorneys General
425 Queen Street
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
Attorneys for the Beneficiaries
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT
STATE OF HAWAII
In the Matter of the Estate
of
BERNICE P. BISHOP,
Deceased.
EQUITY NO. 2048 KSCC
~ ~ ~
REPORT OF ATTORNEY GENERAL CONCERNING MAY 7, 1999 ORDER
The May 7, 1999 order regarding orders to show cause requires the former trustees immediately to resign offices and directorships in the trust’s subsidiary and affiliated organizations... P&C Insurance Company, Inc., is a captive insurance company, the sole stock holder which is Pauahi Holdings Inc.
The Attorney General respectfully invites the court’s attention to the annual report publicly filed on March 28, 2000 by P&C (Ex. 1). The annual report lists Henry H. Peters as a director. The Attorney General is unable to determine whether the listing is incorrect; or whether Peters remains a director in violation of court order. The Attorney General’s several inquiries of the trust concerning this matter remain unanswered despite the passage of three months (Ex. 2).
DATED: Honolulu, Hawaii, May 5, 2000
Respectfully submitted,
<s> DOROTHY SELLERS
Deputy Attorney General
~ ~ ~
DECLARATION OF DOROTHY SELLERS
DOROTHY SELLERS hereby states:
1. I am a deputy attorney general, and I am familiar with the case records and files in Hawaii First Circuit Court Equity No. 2048 going back to approximately August 1997.
2. I have personal knowledge of the facts contained in this declaration and am competent to testify to them.
3. Exhibit 1 is a true and correct copy of the annual report of P&C Insurance Company for the year ending Dec. 31, 1999, filed in late March 2000.
4, Exhibit 2 is a true and correct letter of my February 15, 2000 letter to counsel for the trust asking for verification that Henry Peters had resigned from P&C and the effective date of the resignation. I have never received a response to that letter.
5. On March 13, 2000, deputy attorney general Hugh Jones wrote trustee Libkuman (with a copy to general counsel Colleen Wong) about a number of matters. The final two paragraphs of that letter are:
Finally, we also requested some time ago copies of Henry Peters’ letters of resignation from directorships and ex officio positions, and specifically from P&C Insurance Company. Although the resignation letters of the other trustees were filed with the Court, Peters’ were not.
Please respond to these requests before March 31, 2000. Thank you.
I DECLARE UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY THAT THE FOREGOING IS TRUE AND CORRECT.
DATED: Honolulu, Hawaii, May 5, 2000
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-PC-Peters-5-5-0.pdf
See also:
www.kycbs.net/PC-PriceWaterhouse-8-9-94.pdf
www.kycbs.net/PC-Arms-Length-Guide-10-1-94.pdf
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-Mediation-Order-3-9-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/KSBE-INTERROGATORIES.htm
www.kycbs.net/RICO-In-Paradise.htm
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (07-08-08): E-mail regarding witness Judge Susan Oki Mollway:
Check out James B. Nicholson, Trustee vs. Harmon - Witness Judge Susan Oki Mollway
Tuesday, July 8, 2008 4:43 PM
From: Mutant Ninja Cats
Re:
James B. Nicholson, Trustee vs. Harmon - Witness Judge Susan Oki Mollway
FYI: Susan Oki, Echi Oki, Dan Mollway, Airline Industry, SEC, and the Broken Trust Asian Pacific Bamboo Legacy in collusion with AIPAC Political influence in the powerful influential Defense Appropriation Committee members {Ted Stevens and Duke Cunnigham} under Hawaii U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye's leadership...... and the stealth Political, Economic, and Socialized intents for the pending AKAKA BILL in Congress, documented, again, under "A Confederacy of Dunces" {Forbes}.
Hey CB....this one is the ultimate "insiders" in Hawaii regulatory Government for the Broken Trust cabals linked to the Hawaii Legislature members including their own Federal Reps in Washington protecting their Hawaiian Hui "inside" investors from Southeast Asia to Wall Street:
I talked with the State Ethic's Commissioner / Director, Dan Mollway....Ms. Susan Oki's husband... about the BIG conflicts of interests involving our case against the State DLNR, The Ombudsman Office Director, The DCCA Rico "Investigations" with huge Political cover-ups involving the ANZAI's and the Hawaii Judicial system protecting their own regulatory local hui investors linked to the Bishop Estate Trustees.
Dan Mollway was involved with the "separate" Investigations involving the DLNR Bureau of Conveyance Public land records being ILLEGALLY manipulated and tampered for "Controlled Business" practices by the private sector {Title Guarantee Company employees with Realtors linked to Hoiku Consultant private computers being placed strategically in Public Office Government Buildings linked to the Hawaii Legislature members and the KSBE investments under Headmaster Colbert Matsumoto}.
He claimed that the State Ethics Department was still in the process of their own "separate" investigations {with vague public follow-ups since last year} while the State of Hawaii Attorney General's office conducted their own internal "investigations" in conjunction with a Third Investigations by the Hawaii Legislature members with their Union supported employees!
This again, is the same as a California PYRO MANIAC investigating his own blazing Wild Fire, while creating numerous distracted small fires around the BIG MAIN BON-FIRE, to attention away from his malicious and well calculated deeds!
The gas can {State of Hawaii DLNR Public Forgery Document Executive Order 3117 with a false Public misleading Official GAO Survey Map} with the match {The original suppressed DLNR Legal Access documents} and the remaining evidence with charred ruins {The Hawaiian Airline Pilot's family Bankruptcy proceedings implicating the KSBE and U.S. Trustees mishandling and suppressing the FRAUD} is all their for the "Investigators" conducted by the same Hawaii Buzzards and Vultures linked to the BROKEN TRUST Hawaii Legislature members, again, conducting their own Public Relation separate "investigations" for their Union memberships obtaining bribery gifts and favors {Oriental customs?}; The Hawaii State Ethics Director, linked to the Bamboo network Hawaii Judiciary system Huis with their own separate Public Relation damage control "investigations" to nowhere under the Hawaii AG's Office....promoting a Sovereign Hawaiian Bill, based on Illegal Political Constructive Fraud in Washington {1993 Simple Federal Apology Resolution to Hawaii by Senators Daniel Inouye and Akaka} while ignoring blatant Public Fraud and Political Corruption with OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE with HUGE CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS for: "SOCIAL EQUALITY AND POLITICAL JUSTICE FOR ALL" in Washington......
DOESN'T GET MUCH BETTER THAN THIS while Congress protects their own vested interests under the Political Department of Injustice cabals while helping spread American Democracy and American Values in the controversial Middle East and around the World!
Some interesting bit of side notes involving Ms. Susan Oki and her father....a former member of the famed 442 U.S. Military Regiment: My father, a former World War 11 Combat photographer in the South Pacific theatre, was married to a local Japanese during the War. He was a distant Political acquaintance and supporter for Jack Burns in Kailua, Oahu. They both belonged to the Kailua Lions Club and were both members of the private Lanikai Mid-Pacific Country Club....mostly all haole members after the War years.
My father was involved in a very fraudulent Hawaii land purchase and sale during the 1950s involving a corrupt Hawaii land surveyor and a fellow Irishman linked to the Hawaii Judges family members. After he relocated to San Francisco in the early 1960s, he retained a Hawaii attorney whom I believe was none other than Echi Oki.....from Honolulu, linked to the famed 442 Hawaii Military Brigade members whom he always supported due to the persecution of the local Hawaii Japanese community after Pearl Harbor.
Echi Oki, again, had close political links vis-a-vis their Military Service to Dan Inouye and their tight knit Hawaii 442 hui cabals.....prior and after the 1954 Hawaii Legislature Revolution. My father lost the Court case, despite the SELLER testifying in favor of my fathers allegations...... with huge conflicts of interests since the Judge was related to the Hawaii Judge {Taveras}.
Another side Note with the Airline Industry: I was personally involved with the earlier Bankruptcy proceedings with Frontier Airlines in Denver {1986} which later involved Drexel Burnham Wall Street investors linked to Frank Lorenzo and Carl Ichan in New York. Like Mr. Rodney Stich, the FAA investigator making allegations against United Airlines in Denver, I was singled out with several others for exposing blatant FAA rules and blatant Public Safety violations involving massive fraud and corruption benefiting short-cutting - Airline cost saving procedures...comprising massive Public Safety cover-ups and FAA regulatory with damage control omitted issues involving the new non-unionized, young and ignorant work force.
This all began with the across the board firings for the FAA Air Traffic Controllers soon after the Reagan - Bush Sr Tenure came into Office in 1981. The massive Airline De-regulations in Washington vis-a-vis Wall Stree profiteers, {i.e. - Michael Milken, Marc Rich, Ivan Boesky} during the roaring unregulated 1980s which became famous with the Movies: WALL STREET {Michael Douglas} and "BARBARIANS AT THE GATE".
AIPAC'S Norman Brownstein, based in Downtown Denver, vis-a-vis my former Brownstein political mole "girlfriend" , New York attorney Lisa Holstein, was responsible for helping Lorenzo with the Texas Continental Airline gang members to get out of their Prime gate and exclusive lounge commitments, including a faulty Automated Baggage system, involving more massive fraud and cover-ups at the new Denver International Airport were allowed to quietly relocate back to their Houston based "Texas Air Corp" headquarters.
In 1993, Clinton denied Frank Lorenzo, with his New York Attorney wife with Chase Manhattan Bank, as well as their Texas Air Corps - Colorado Resort land investors in Aspen & Vail {Phillip Winn Group}, to continue manipulating the SEC within the confines of the "insiders" under the lucrative "De-Regulated Airline Industry" mergers using Union Pension plans for lucrative leveraged acquisitions....compromising Public Safety and FAA violations with massive cover-ups in Washington.
Again, like former FAA investigator, Rodney Stich, doing his job, I became another Politcial liability, which is the former "inside" Dept of Justice / CIA lawyer, Norman Phillip Brownstein's expertise specialized job as Mr. Fix It at DIA; Protecting SEC Billionaire Fugitive's such as Marc Rich and HUD Director Phil Winn, while sheltering Drug Traffic cabals with Florida's Jack Devoe...for helping AIPAC's Political "cause" in Washington DC into vested SECURITY interests in the secular Middle East.....of course....always using OPM: The defrauded & obliviouos American Public Tax Payers left holding the bag on Wall Street to Main Street.
Brownstein's young, former single AIPAC New York mole attorney, Ms. Lisa Holstein, like others linked to AIPAC and David Steiner, as well as former CIA - U.S. federal prosecutor - Hawaii Public Safety Director, John Peyton, are reported deceased in New York and remote Africa?
The Rocky Mountain High - SILVERADO DNC Political Convention in Denver, Colorado, moving the Public cost over-run to a larger media exposure event with INVESCO Stadium {Bronco Pro Football Stadium...who are clients of NORM BROWNSTEIN, JACK HYATT, AND STEVE FARBER, now joined by former GOP Denver University CABALS - former Colorado RNC Chairman, Commercial Real Estate Investor and Resigned Department of Veterans Affair Director - James "De Oppressor Libre" Nicholson, linked to former Colorado RNC Chair, for convicted Swiss Ambassador - HUD Director - Phil Winn {DU Professor} with former DU Secretary of Interior Gale {CREA} Norton, as well as the latest new GOP University of Colorado connections to former U.S. Senator / UC President Hank Brown....involved in the "E Pluribus Unum" Wall Street article related to: THE 1993 Simple FEDERAL APOLOGY RESOLUTION TO HAWAII under Clinton with Political Constructive FRAUD and Public cover-up intents for the future Public subsidized AKAKA BILL in Congress....pending in Washington since 2000, after the U.S. Supreme Court decision over ruling the Hawaii Political Judicial system hidden under the Political Ninth District Circuit Court of Appeals, involving 'RICE V. CAYETANO' {Office of Hawaiian Affairs}.
Hope this "inside" information and insights can help you!
- little ninja cats with nonprofit coconut crab club
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (05-10-08): David Farmer’s undisclosed connections with AIPAC and “Bush’s Brain”, Karl Rove:
From: little ninja cats
Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 01:26:40 EDT
Subject: Check out The Raw Story | Official probing Rove now under investigation himself
To: sf.nancy@mail.house.gov, senator@akaka.senate.gov, ustrustee.program@usdoj.gov, admin@ehawaii.gov, jurisnot@yahoo.com, bobby_n_harmon@yahoo.com, hwburgess@hawaii.rr.com, Ken_Conklin@yahoo.com, rroth@hawaii.edu}
The Raw Story | Official probing Rove now under investigation himself
"While Rove Fiddled; The Bush was Burning"? or........White men who can't dance?
ck out:
Dismissed U.S. Attorney's Carole Lam {California} and Frederick Black {South Pacific}.
HATCH ACT and the 1978 Hawaii Constitutional Convention:
a} Congressional Defense Appropriation Committee members, previous Bureau of Indian Affair Chairman, Veterans Affair Committees, Intelligence Committees, Special Counsels {Iran - Contra / Central America International Committees} Bishop, Baldwin, REWALD, Dillingham & Wong, for Hawaii U.S. Senator - Daniel Inouye - Defense Chairman linked to: hidden Public Pork Barrel proceeds for the lavish Hokulia Canoe for Hawaiians only programs / Women Abuse Shelters for Two Political Hawaii Legislature members involved in 1992 U.S. Senate race allegations for Sexual Harassment allegations / Private Defense Contractor Brent Wilkes - Hawaii ADSC Company fronts - Lavish Hawaiian Private Vacations - Luxury Private Accommodations - Hawaiian "Entertainment" linked to Asian Pacific Advisory Council Politicians {Prince Hotels} - AIPAC Lobbyist for Akaka Bill; {Dismissed U.S. Attorney - Frederick Black, Political Appointee under former CIA Director / Vice-President / President George H. Bush linked to former U.S. Federal Prosecutors John Peyton - Kenneth Starr in collusion with former Hawaii District Judges {deceased}: Martin Pence, Harold Fong, & California District Judge: Brian Tamahana}.
b} Alaska U.S. Senator - Ted Stevens linked to hidden Public Pork Barrel projects {Bridge To Nowhere} with family member to self serving Alaska Contractors - Home remodeling projects as well as lobbying ANWAR Bill under the Department of Interior {CREA} with members with the Defense Appropriation Committee Political links to members of Congressional Committees {I.E. - Veterans Committee Chairman - Daniel Akaka, sponsor for the stealth Akaka Bill with no Public voice or vote in Hawaii, Obstruction of Justice in the South Pacific {Jack Abramoff - Tom Delay} and the Broken Trust legacy in Hawaii, in political exchanges for continued political support for a Case of War in Iraq and the ANWAR Bill.
c} California Congressman - Duke "Dukestar" Cunningham: Defense Appropriation Committee member - Veterans Affair Committees linked to lavish Political briberies with Private Defense Contractors and CIA agents linked to Iraq War Appropriations in Washington DC, Southern California, and Hawaii lavish vacations - "Entertainment" with obstruction of justice linked to political Dismissed U.S. Attorney Carole Lam, linked to Political dismissed U.S. Attorney Frederick Black in the South Pacific involving Jack Abramoff {AIPAC} linked to Grover Norquist and Tom Delay {CNP - PNAC}.
Aloha Mai Mo. Aloha Aku: Do the Disavowed Facts matter for Special Counsel Scott Bloch with Karl Rove under Alberto Gonzales and the Broken Trust Legacy in Washington DC?
catbirds - south pac
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (02-09-08): Kamehameha Schools made a “confidential” settlement agreement with the plaintiff in the John Doe vs. Kamehameha Schools case, which my former attorney, John Goemans, Esq., says, according to what he has learned from the IRS, violates the rules for a non-profit charitable trust:
February 8, 2008
Kamehameha Schools settled
lawsuit for $7M
By Jim Dooley, Advertiser Staff Writer
Kamehameha Schools paid $7 million to settle a lawsuit filed by an anonymous student who claimed the schools' Hawaiians-first admissions policy violates civil rights laws, according to an attorney involved in the case.
Terms of the confidential settlement have been a closely guarded secret since it was signed in May just before the U.S. Supreme Court was to decide whether to hear the case.
The settlement ended a four-year effort by a non-Hawaiian teenager, known only as John Doe, to enter the Kamehameha Schools system.
Attorney John Goemans — who planned the legal action, found the plaintiff and brought the case to Sacramento private attorney Eric Grant to litigate — revealed the amount of the settlement in an exclusive interview with The Advertiser.
"The amount of the settlement is important public information that should be disclosed by a charitable institution that receives tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service," Goemans said in a telephone interview.
The lawsuit challenging the schools' admissions policy was the first case of its kind to reach the doors of the U.S. Supreme Court and stirred enormous controversy in Hawai'i.
Critics of the settlement pointed out that additional legal challenges could still be mounted against the admissions policy, and news of the $7 million that the schools paid could increase the chances of new lawsuits.
Local attorney David Rosen, who made news last year by actively seeking plaintiffs for a new challenge to the admissions policy, said yesterday he is preparing a suit against Kamehameha Schools.
Kamehameha Schools, previously known as Bishop Estate, is a nonprofit organization with assets of $7.7 billion.
Grant, appearing yesterday at a University of Hawai'i law school symposium on the lawsuit, known as John Doe vs. Kamehameha Schools, declined to discuss the settlement when told that Goemans had disclosed the $7 million figure.
Kamehameha Schools' lead attorney in the lawsuit, Kathleen Sullivan, a former dean of the Stanford University law school, also declined comment.
"Terms of the settlement are inviolate," said Sullivan, also a participant at the UH symposium yesterday.
Ann Botticelli, spokeswoman for the Kamehameha Schools board of trustees, also declined to comment on Goemans' statements or the size of the settlement.
The settlement says that anyone who discloses its contents is subject to a $2 million penalty, but Goemans said he was not a party to the agreement and never signed it.
Goemans, who is recovering from heart surgery, said yesterday that he was opposed to the $7 million settlement but that "it was the client's decision" to accept it.
PART OF TAX RECORD
Goemans said an attorney representing Grant breached the confidentiality clause by mailing a copy of the agreement to Goemans last year.
Goemans added that Kamehameha Schools must disclose details of the settlement on its 2007 tax return, which is due to be filed later this year, and on annual financial reports the charity is required to file with the state attorney general's office and with the state court.
Tax returns of nonprofit institutions such as Kamehameha Schools are public records under federal law. The institution's annual financial accountings — which date to its founding by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop in 1888 — are also open to the public.
Kamehameha operates three campuses — its flagship at Kapalama Heights on O'ahu, one on Maui and another on the Big Island — for the benefit of children of Hawaiian ancestry.
The institution plays a central role in Hawai'i society, in part because of its financial clout and in part because of its mission to educate children of Hawaiian ancestry. It is also the state's largest private landowner.
There are about 70,000 school-age children with Hawaiian blood, and 5,400 students were enrolled at Kamehameha's various schools last year. Kamehameha served 30,000 other children and adults through outreach programs and through its support of charter schools.
TO SUPREME COURT
Hawai'i federal Judge Alan Kay initially dismissed the John Doe lawsuit in November 2003, upholding the schools' argument that the admissions policy helped address cultural and socio-economic disadvantages that have beset many Hawaiians since the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.
The plaintiffs appealed that decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which overturned it in a three-judge decision in 2005. That ruling prompted protest rallies, prayer vigils and other gatherings around the state in support of the schools.
Lawyers for Kamehameha Schools then asked that all members of the appellate court review the matter and the full court reversed the three-judge panel's decision by an 8-7 vote in December 2006.
Grant then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, and last May, on the eve of the high court announcement on whether it would take the case, the matter was settled out of court.
"We didn't think that there was a strong possibility (of losing) but that risk is always out there," J. Douglas Ing, chairman of the Kamehameha board of trustees, said in announcing the settlement in 2007. "There are no guarantees and there certainly were no guarantees from our lawyers that we would win the case."
Grant, the attorney for John Doe, said after the case was settled, "Obviously, a settlement is not exactly what either side wanted. But it is something both sides eventually came to terms on."
SPATS OVER FEES
Goemans is involved in a continuing dispute with John Doe, whose identity has never been revealed, and with Grant over how much money Goemans should receive for his part in the case.
Grant received 40 percent of the overall settlement — $2.8 million — although he had to sue the plaintiff and the plaintiff's mother in federal court in Sacramento last year to collect the money, according to Goemans and federal court records.
That collection lawsuit was filed in June after Kamehameha had paid the $7 million settlement. The dispute over the payment of Grant's fee was settled and dismissed in September.
Goemans said he asked John Doe and Jane Doe for 25 percent of the total settlement — $1.75 million — but has not yet received a response.
Grant filed a separate lawsuit against Goemans in California state court last year regarding how much compensation Goemans is owed for his part in the case.
That suit is still pending, although Goemans said he believes it is groundless and will be dismissed.
Grant yesterday declined comment on the collection lawsuit he filed in Sacramento against his own clients or the related action he filed against Goemans.
Goemans said he has received $20,000 in compensation to date from John Doe and his mother and is contemplating filing a new legal action of his own against them.
http://www.kycbs.net/EXHIBIT-Dooley-HA-2-8-8.htm
February 9, 2008
School's $7M deal
raises ire, eyebrows
By Jim Dooley, Advertiser Staff Writer
Yesterday's disclosure of the $7 million payment made by Kamehameha Schools to settle a civil rights lawsuit prompted questions and anger from individuals on both sides of the schools' controversial admissions policy that gives preference to students of Native Hawaiian ancestry.
"It does seem like a lot of money. It sure would be if it was in my pocket," said University of Hawai'i law school professor Jon Van Dyke, who served as a legal consultant to Kamehameha in the lawsuit.
Van Dyke said yesterday he wasn't part of the settlement discussions and still believes the payment led to the right outcome for the school.
The settlement was signed in May just before the U.S. Supreme Court was scheduled to announce whether it would hear an appeal of the case. Terms of the settlement had been kept confidential until this week. John Goemans, an attorney for the plaintiff in the case, revealed the $7 million figure to The Advertiser.
The settlement meant that an earlier 8-7 vote by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of Kamehameha's admissions policy is still the prevailing law.
H. William Burgess, a local attorney who filed legal papers with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the plaintiff in the case, said yesterday, "Wow. The settlement was much larger than I thought."
Burgess said he still believes the case should have been heard by the Supreme Court so that legal questions surrounding the school's Hawaiians-first admissions policy were settled.
"I actually think the trustees of the Kamehameha Schools have a legal duty, when there's a legitimate legal question about what they're doing, to seek a resolution of the issue," Burgess said.
News of the $7 million payment provoked more than 500 online postings to The Advertiser that variously criticized school officials who approved the payment and the lawyers and the client who received the money.
Beatrice "Beadie" Dawson, a native Hawaiian attorney who is active in Kamehameha Schools affairs, said yesterday the settlement itself and now news of the $7 million amount "are like an open invitation for more lawsuits."
"I was very dismayed by news of the settlement last year and I was very surprised by the size of it today," Dawson said.
Hawai'i attorney David Rosen, who last year announced plans to file another legal challenge to the school's admission policy, confirmed this week that the lawsuit is taking shape but has not been filed.
He issued a news release yesterday reacting to the settlement amount that said, "The people of Hawai'i should be outraged that the trustees of Kamehameha Schools place a higher value on discriminating rather than educating."
Goemans, the lawyer who publicly revealed the $7 million figure, said he believes the settlement should be a matter of public record given Kamehameha Schools' status as a tax-exempt charitable institution.
Goemans helped bring the civil rights lawsuit against Kamehameha in 2003 on behalf of a non-Hawaiian student denied admission to the high school. The student and the student's mother, who live on the Big Island, have never been identified except as John Doe and Jane Doe.
Goemans also said the settlement is subject to review by the Internal Revenue Service and by the state attorney general's office, which oversees Kamehameha Schools' annual financial accountings filed with state Probate Court.
Attorney General Mark Bennett could not be reached for comment yesterday.
David Fairbanks, a Honolulu lawyer serving as the appointed "master" who must review Kamehameha's financial fillings for the Probate Court, did not respond to a telephone message for comment yesterday.
http://www.kycbs.net/EXHIBIT-Dooley-HA-2-9-8.htm
~ ~ ~
February 9, 2008
$7M
An attorney involved in a challenge to Kamehameha Schools' Hawaiians-only policy reveals the amount of a settlement
By Ken Kobayashi, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Kamehameha Schools made the first move to settle a legal challenge to their admissions policy giving preference to native Hawaiians and later agreed to pay $7 million, a lawyer involved in the case said yesterday.
John Goemans, an attorney for an unnamed non-native Hawaiian student who filed a lawsuit contesting the policy, said the charitable trust offered for the first time to talk about an out-of-court settlement last May, just days before the U.S. Supreme Court was to decide whether to hear the case.
Goemans, a former Big Island attorney recuperating in Florida from heart surgery, and Sacramento, Calif., lawyer Eric Grant, the lead attorney, represented the unnamed student and his mother.
"They (the schools) approached Eric and said we wanted to settle and we have to settle by Friday morning," when it was believed the high court was to make a decision about accepting the case, Goemans said.
He said it appeared the high court would accept their appeal of an 8-7 decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld the policy.
"They (the schools) were worried about losing in the Supreme Court," Goemans said.
Goemans said he did not know how Grant and the Kamehameha Schools arrived at the $7 million figure.
The hotly disputed federal civil rights lawsuit caused a firestorm of controversy among Kamehameha Schools supporters who believed the challenge struck at the more than century-old admissions policy and the heart of the charitable trust's mission to educate children of Hawaiian ancestry.
The confidential settlement was announced on May 14. Those connected with the case repeatedly refused to disclose the terms.
Goemans said he was disclosing the amount because he said he recently learned from Internal Revenue Service officials that Kamehameha Schools, a tax-exempt charitable trust, cannot keep the figure confidential.
"Because exempt organizations operate in the public good, you got to report all your expenses with particularity, and you cannot keep information relative to those expenses confidential," he said. "It's in the public interest to have full disclosure."
Ann Botticelli, Kamehameha Schools spokeswoman, said yesterday the settlement contained a confidentiality clause.
"We intend to honor the terms, and we will not be discussing the settlement or John Goemans' assertions," she said.
Grant said yesterday he had no comment.
Kamehameha Schools, a multibillion-dollar charitable trust and the state's largest private landowner, was established under the 1883 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. It educates more than 6,700 students at its flagship campus at Kapalama Heights, two other campuses on Maui and the Big Island, and 31 preschools throughout the state.
Senior U.S. District Judge Alan Kay upheld the school's Hawaiians-first policy, but a panel of the appeals court in San Francisco ruled 2-1 that the practice violated federal civil rights laws. That decision triggered statewide protests and marches by school supporters.
Later, a larger appeals court panel voted 8-7 to uphold the policy.
It was an appeal by Grant of that 8-7 ruling that was on the doorsteps of the U.S. Supreme Court when the settlement was announced.
At the time, school officials indicated that the settlement calling for the dismissal of the lawsuit leaves intact the appeals court's 8-7 decision upholding the admissions policy.
But the dismissal does not guarantee that another lawsuit might surface and make its way to the high court, although it would first have to go through the federal trial and appeals courts, where the 8-7 ruling would be considered to be binding on the issue. But even if those who file the new lawsuit lose on those two levels, they could still ask the high court to review the case.
Honolulu attorney David Rosen said he has plaintiffs for a lawsuit to challenge the admissions policy. He said the settlement does not affect his case. Rosen said he expects the suit will be filed this year.
Goemans said Grant received 40 percent, or $2.8 million of the $7 million. Goemans said he is preparing to file his own lawsuit seeking to recover a "reasonable percentage" of the $7 million for his work in the case.
Goemans said he found the unnamed student and arranged for Grant to be the attorney for the student and his mother.
"I put the whole thing together," Goemans said. "But for me there would not have been a $7 million payment."
The student never was admitted to Kamehameha Schools because his case was pending. He has since graduated from high school and had been attending college, Grant said last year.
http://starbulletin.com/2008/02/09/news/story02.html
~ ~ ~
February 9, 2008
Amount of settlement
raises critical concern
By Robert Shikina, rshikina@starbulletin.com
Supporters and critics expressed surprise yesterday at the $7 million Kamehameha Schools paid a student to settle a lawsuit disputing its Hawaiians-first admission policy.
One Kamehameha Schools alumnus says disclosure of the settlement with the anonymous, non-Hawaiian student will prompt questions among Hawaiians.
"I'm not happy with $7 million," said Kamehameha Schools alumnus Jan E. Hanohano Dill. "Unfortunately, that's a lot of money, and it's going to create a lot of questions in the Hawaiian community whether it was right or wrong and to continue."
Dill, also a board member of Na Pua a Ke Ali'i Pauahi, a nonprofit group whose members include students, parents, and alumni of Kamehameha Schools, said he continues to support the school's decision.
"I don't know the details, and I think that's something that has to be cleared," he said. "You settle because you want to avoid costs that would be incurred as you go forward."
He added, "I have to believe that they understood that this was something good for the Hawaiian people. ... It will be clear as things unfold whether that was true."
Dill, who is also president of the nonprofit Partners in Development Foundation, said the admissions policy must eventually be addressed and that the settlement avoids this case but does not stop other cases.
Marion Joy, former vice president of Na Pua, called the settlement a "misuse of trust funds."
"The trust is continually going to be challenged," she said. "This is not going to be the last. ... As far as settling for the particular lawsuit, it's not in the best interests of the beneficiaries (of the 1883 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop)."
Kamehameha Schools declined comment.
Honolulu attorney David Rosen, who has sought potential clients to sue Kamehameha over its admissions policy after the settlement, sent out a statement yesterday that said the $7 million settlement was used to "buy off this case."
He added that the trustees should open a campus on the Leeward Coast of Oahu and possibly Molokai where increased educational opportunities are needed.
H. William Burgess, a retired attorney and founder of Aloha for All, a group opposed to Hawaiian sovereignty, said the settlement raises questions about the proper use of the trust funds.
"Normally, trustees, if they're doubtful about doing something, they ask the court to give them instructions," he said. "Yet in this case, the biggest charitable trust, probably in the nation, instead of welcoming the opportunity to get the highest court in the land to settle it, they pay $7 million to leave it open. And it is very much open."
http://starbulletin.com/2008/02/09/news/story03.html
* * *
From The Catbird Seat website:
The Wise Old Owl asks: How much of the settlement amount came from Kamehameha’s insurance companies, and how much came from the trust funds? How much did Kamehameha Schools (and/or their insurance company) spend for defense costs in this case before they decided to settle? Who is their insurance company? Their insurance broker? Who actually signed the Settlement Agreement?
http://www.kycbs.net/Bishop7.htm
~ ~ ~
March 5, 1998
The Bishop trustee will
not seek re-election as a director
of the firm in which the estate
is a big shareholder
By Rick Daysog, Star-Bulletin
Bishop Estate trustee Henry Peters is stepping down as director of Mid Ocean Ltd., a Bermuda-based reinsurance company in which the estate is a big shareholder.
Peters -- whose role at Mid Ocean has come under the scrutiny of state Attorney General Margery Bronster in her investigation of the estate -- said he recently decided not to seek re-election to Mid Ocean's board of directors due to time constraints.
His term expires at Mid Ocean's annual shareholders meeting, which was to be held today.
A Mid Ocean board member since 1993, Peters said his workload at Bishop Estate and other corporations made it difficult to serve on Mid Ocean's board. But he said he was comfortable leaving the board at this time given the company's current management.
The announcement comes as Bronster has subpoenaed documents relating to Bishop Estate's investment in Mid Ocean.
The attorney general is investigating charges of financial mismanagement and breaches of fiduciary duties by individual Bishop Estate trustees. Sources say the state may be delving into Peters' investments in Mid Ocean.
Mid Ocean, based in Hamilton, Bermuda, is a publicly traded company that sells coverage to insurance companies, enabling the insurers to spread their risk.
Bishop Estate is Mid Ocean's fourth-largest shareholder behind Bermuda-based EXEL Ltd., the Scudder, Stevens & Clark Inc. investment company and the Wall Street firm of Oppenheimer Group Inc. The charitable trust's 1.86 million shares represent 5.16 percent of the company's 36.1 million outstanding common shares.
Since 1993, Mid Ocean has granted Peters options to acquire 4,500 shares of Mid Ocean stock under its long-term compensation plan for outside directors, according to a 1996 proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Those options would be worth more than $266,000 based on Mid Ocean's closing price of $59.13 yesterday.
Peters and other outside directors also earned $30,000 each in the form of Mid Ocean stock and deferred shares last year, according to Mid Ocean's proxy statement for its 1997 fiscal year.
Outside directors received an additional $3,000 for each board meeting attended and $1,500 for each committee meeting attended. Peters was present at at least six board and committee meetings in 1997.
The Mid Ocean director's fees are on top of the $843,109 in commissions Peters received as a Bishop Estate trustee for the year ending June 30, 1996.
Peters took issue with recent criticism about his Mid Ocean stock options. He said he has not exercised the options, which were offered to all of Mid Ocean's outside directors.
He said the options were not given to directors for free: Directors must acquire them at market prices and can only sell them after a set time period.
"I haven't even looked at them," Peters said.
To be sure, Bishop Estate's investment in Mid Ocean has been successful.
The estate's initial investment of $31 million in 1992 is now worth about $110 million.
Last year, the estate earned nearly $5.6 million in dividends from its Mid Ocean stock, or more than double the $2.5 million in dividends it received in fiscal year 1996.
Critics argue that Peters' stock options in Mid Ocean raise the appearance of a conflict of interest given Bishop Estate's big stake in Mid Ocean.
Randall Roth, University of Hawaii law professor and co-author of the "Broken Trust" article that prompted the state's investigation of the estate, believes that co-investing should be avoided by trustees of Bishop Estate.
Roth said he wasn't familiar with the details of Peters' role in Mid Ocean. But he noted that the estate's internal guidelines forbid trustees from placing personal money in trust investments.
The issue of Peters' Mid Ocean stock options has raised questions within the estate's board room. Fellow trustees weren't aware of the options until media reports criticizing the awards surfaced in September, sources have said.
Consequently, board members told Peters to not exercise the options and said he should not receive future director's fees, sources said.
He has not returned past director's compensation.
The estate is studying ways to transfer ownership of Peters' Mid Ocean stock options to Kamehameha Schools.
"Arguably, this creates an appearance of a conflict of interest if not an (actual) conflict of interest," Roth said.
"A trustee is supposed to avoid even the appearance of a conflict."
http://starbulletin.com/98/03/05/news/story3.html
~ ~ ~
July 3, 2005
'Wall' keeps criminal, civil probes separate
By Jim Dooley, Advertiser Staff Writer
The Attorney General's office must keep its civil and criminal probes of RightStar separate and has taken steps to prevent any collaboration between the lawyers and staffers involved in two cases, attorneys said.
The separation is important because it is improper to use the threat of criminal action to advance a civil case, or vice versa.
Similar ethical barriers, informally called "Chinese walls," were erected inside the Attorney General's office when simultaneous civil and criminal investigations were conducted in the late 1990s of the Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate trustees and their management of the estate.
In fact, two lawsuits are still pending in state courts here — filed by former Bishop Estate trustee Richard "Dickie" Wong and his former brother-in-law, developer Jeffrey Stone — alleging that the Attorney General's office illegally used the separate civil and criminal probes as leverage to force Bishop trustees to resign.
Deputy Attorney General Lawrence Goya, who filed and later dropped criminal charges against Wong, Stone and former Bishop Estate trustee Henry Peters, is a defendant in both pending suits. One filed by Wong was dismissed by a Circuit Court judge, but that ruling is now under appeal before the state Supreme Court. The other, filed by Stone last year, is scheduled to go to trial next year.
Attorney William McCorriston, who represents four former RightStar trustees named as defendants in the attorney general's civil lawsuit said, "There's always a concern in a 'Chinese wall' situation, because there's an inherent tension between civil and criminal proceedings conducted by the same office."
Another ethical issue arises because Attorney General Mark Bennett and First Deputy Attorney General Lisa Ginoza are former partners in the McCorriston law firm.
Bennett said last week he departed from the firm long before it became involved in the RightStar case and thus has no conflict of interest in overseeing his office's RightStar-related activities.
Ginoza left the McCorriston firm in January of this year to join Bennett's staff and "has recused herself from any involvement" in the current cases, Bennett said.
"It wasn't clear that recusal was necessary but it was decided it was best for her to play no role," Bennett said.
Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2447.
For more, GO TO > > > http://www.kycbs.net/Cemetery.htm
~ ~ ~
May 8, 1999
THEN THERE WERE NONE
Kamehameha supporters
embrace the chance for
reform and healing
Read the complete text of Judge Chang's ruling
By Rick Daysog, Star-Bulletin
A judge has delivered a possibly fatal blow to the trustees of the Bishop Estate in a historic decision that many believe will lead to the resolution of the two-year controversy surrounding the estate.
Probate Judge Kevin Chang yesterday ordered the immediate and interim removal of trustees Richard "Dickie" Wong, Henry Peters, Lokelani Lindsey and Gerard Jervis in a move that could lead to their permanent dismissal from their $1 million-a-year jobs.
Chang also accepted the voluntary resignation of trustee Oswald Stender and named a panel of five interim trustees to assume the duties of the ousted board members.
The interim trustees -- who were previously appointed by Chang to serve as special-purpose trustees to negotiate with the Internal Revenue Service -- are retired Adm. Robert Kihune, former Honolulu Police Chief Francis Keala, attorney Ronald Libkuman, Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. treasurer Constance Lau and retired Iolani School headmaster David Paul Coon.
Chang's bombshell follows Circuit Judge Bambi Weil's ruling on Thursday permanently removing Lindsey from the multibillion-dollar trust's board after a four-month trial that ended in April. Trustees Stender and Jervis had sued for Lindsey's ouster, saying she breached her fiduciary duties, mismanaged the estate-run Kamehameha Schools and was unfit to serve.
Yesterday's decision, after a five-hour hearing, came after Chang ordered the trustees to demonstrate why they should not resign or be temporarily removed. The IRS, which has been conducting an audit of the estate since 1996, had threatened to revoke the charitable trust's tax-exempt status if the trustees were not removed.
Loss of the tax-exempt status could have cost the estate tens of millions of dollars a year and forced it to pay significant back taxes.
Chang said the trustees' refusal to step down "creates an immediate and substantial risk of significant harm to the trust estate" and "constitutes a breach of trust."
Under yesterday's order, Chang gave the attorney general's office, the estate's court-appointed master or the interim trustees 90 days to seek the permanent removal of the trustees. If no such suit is filed during the 90-day period, the former board members must ask the court to lift the temporary ban.
Chang also ordered the ousted trustees not to communicate with estate employees, attorneys and their agents and has ordered them off the boards of their various subsidiaries and affiliates.
In February, Chang forbade the trustees from negotiating with the IRS over issues raised by its audits. After reviewing some 2,500 pages of reports known as IRS Form 5701s, or notices of proposed adjustments, Chang found that the trustees had a conflict and prohibited them from handling audit issues.
Yesterday, Wong said he would appeal Chang's ruling because he believes his rights to due process were violated. Since Chang removed the trustees from discussing audit issues with the IRS, Wong said he has never been informed of any wrongdoing.
"I'm entitled to due process and I want to face my accusers and face the allegations. I want to know why I was removed," Wong said.
"I'm not going to walk away from a fight."
Fellow trustee Henry Peters has also hinted at an appeal and has raised the possibility of suing the IRS. Peters yesterday denied wrongdoing, saying the trust today is far more wealthy and liquid than it ever has been.
Peters pointed to this week's public offering of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which added about $600 million to the estate's coffers. After the estate's investing $500 million in the Wall Street investment banking firm, the value of its holdings in Goldman has risen to as much as $2 billion.
"I'm not here to win a popularity contest, I'm here to do my job as a trustee. I can tell you unequivocally that we've done a good job," Peters said.
"We are big, we are massive, we are wealthy. If you want to refer to that as too much power, than so be it. We are proud of our legacy. We've done a wonderful job here and we're not going to apologize for our success."
To be sure, Wong and Peters are significant players in the controversy surrounding the trust. Both are targets of removal proceedings initiated by former Attorney General Margery Bronster and both have been indicted by separate grand juries investigating an alleged kickback scheme involving Bishop Estate land.
Stender said Chang's decision paves the way for major reforms of the Bishop Estate's operation. Future trustees will be more accountable to the needs of the Kamehameha Schools and to the interests of students, he said.
"I'm very pleased with the court's ruling today because it creates a new era for Kamehameha Schools and a new era for the management of the trust," Stender said.
Randall Roth, University of Hawaii law professor and co-author of the "Broken Trust" essay that criticized trustees' management of the estate, said that once the interim trustees take office, they will be able to waive the attorney-client privilege which former board members used to shield themselves from the state's investigation and to delay justice.
The interim trustees, according to Roth, see the benefit of cooperating with the state and federal probes.
"As a practical matter, what Chang's decision means is that the old trustees will never again be at the helm of the Bishop Estate," Roth said.
"This legal system is slow but it does deliver."
Meanwhile, members of the Kamehameha Schools ohana embraced yesterday's ruling, calling it the beginning of a long-overdue healing process.
"We are pleased the judicial process has worked, but slowly," said a statement issued by Na Pua, an organization of 3,300 Kamehameha Schools alumni, faculty, parents and students.
"Today's court decision is a vindication of the Kamehameha ohana and particularly for the many individuals who placed themselves at risk by speaking out."
Yesterday's hearing, before a packed audience, was attended by more than two dozen lawyers, including Bronster, who received an ovation when she entered the courtroom.
Last week, the state Senate, by a 14-11 vote, rejected Bronster's bid for a second term as attorney general, in a vote many believed was engineered by estate trustees.
Bronster, who launched the state's investigation of the Bishop Estate that led to the indictments of Wong and Peters, praised Chang for his decision and also trustee Oswald Stender for voluntarily stepping down.
"I think the court's order was very well thought out and it is a very important step," Bronster said.
"There's still a lot to be done."
Attorneys for trustees Wong, Peters and Lindsey argued that their clients' rights to a fair trial were denied. Ron Malone, Wong's attorney, accused the special-purpose trustees of "caving in to the IRS," which he said wants board members out so it can negotiate a settlement in its favor.
Malone said he believed that Wong is the target of a "mob mentality" and urged Chang to order a full evidentiary hearing. The request was denied.
Deputy Attorney General Dorothy Sellers said the trustees' real motives for keeping their jobs were made clear by their attorneys' arguments.
"What we heard today was 'Me, me, me, me. My job, my power, my authority, my rights, my compensation, my due process rights,' " Sellers said.
"Tell the trustees that the game is over. Take them out."
===
CHRONOLOGY OF
KEY EVENTS
1997
May 15, 1997: More than 500 Kamehameha Schools parents, students, alumni and supporters march on Bishop Estate headquarters to protest what they said was trustees' micromanagement of the Kapalama Heights campus.
Aug. 9, 1997: The "Broken Trust" article in the Star-Bulletin alleges mismanagement of Bishop Estate assets and conflicts of interests by trustees and criticizes selection of trustees by state Supreme Court justices.
Aug. 12, 1997: Gov. Ben Cayetano orders Attorney General Margery Bronster to investigate.
Dec. 12, 1997: Fact-finder Patrick Yim alleges that trustee Lokelani Lindsey managed Kamehameha Schools by "intimidation."
Dec. 20, 1997: Supreme Court justices remove themselves from selecting Bishop Estate trustees.
Dec. 29, 1997: Bishop Estate trustees Gerard Jervis and Oswald Stender seek Lindsey's removal.
1998
Sept. 9, 1998: Attorney General Margery Bronster calls for temporary removal of four trustees, saying they jeopardized the tax-exempt status of the trust.
Sept. 10, 1998: Bronster calls for removal of trustees Richard Wong, Henry Peters and Lindsey, charging they took part in a pattern of self-dealing and mismanagement.
Nov. 11, 1998: The trial to remove trustee Lokelani Lindsey begins.
Nov. 25, 1998: An Oahu grand jury indicts Peters on a charge of theft.
1999
March 11, 1999: Trustee Gerard Jervis is rushed to a hospital after taking an overdose of sleeping pills a week after a trust employee died in an apparent suicide. The day before her death, Jervis and the female worker were caught in a compromising position in a men's restroom by security workers at a Waikiki hotel.
April 12, 1999: Bishop Estate Chairman Wong is indicted on charges of first-degree theft, perjury and conspiracy.
April 27, 1999: IRS files a report saying it may revoke the tax-exempt status of the estate if the five trustees don't step down.
May 6, 1999: Circuit Judge Bambi Weil permanently removes Lindsey as trustee.
May 7, 1999: Probate Court Judge Kevin Chang temporarily removes four trustees and accepts Stender's resignation on an interim basis.
http://starbulletin.com/1999/05/08/news/story1a.html
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Exhibit-GY.htm
~ ~ ~
Henry Peters is expected to provide evidence that Kenneth Hipp, Esq. was his appointed attorney in Harmon’s RICO lawsuit, and that Mr. Hipp’s appointment was formally approved, in writing, by Federal Insurance Company.
Henry Peters is also expected to describe his authorities as a former KSBE Trustee and as Chairman of the Board of P&C Insurance Company, as it relates to “arms-length” guidelines and IRS Section 4958 regulations.
Henry Peters is also expected to testify regarding the alleged arrangement made by him that a portion of the funds from the insurance company’s settlement of William Rosehill ’s wrongful termination claim be required to be given as an alleged “kick-back” to the Big Island’s Chapter of the Kamehameha Alumni Association.
Henry Peters is also expected to testify regarding the alleged discriminatory and improper “deferred compensation plan” provided to trustees and certain top management personnel, but not to employees.
~ ~ ~
May 16, 2007
Deferred money to ex-trustees 'pretty big'
By Rick Daysog, Advertiser Staff Writer
Newly released filings with the Internal Revenue Service show former Kamehameha Schools trustee Henry Peters received $428,835 in deferred pay last year.
The filings, which cover the year ending June 30, 2006, also show that former trustees Matsuo Takabuki earned $270,135 in deferred compensation last year, while former state Supreme Court Chief Justice William Richardson received $47,696.
The filings for the first time give details about the compensation for former board members of the $7 billion charitable trust.
A deferred compensation plan is a tax-savings strategy that allows an executive to postpone the payment of part of his or her annual compensation until a later date, when the executive is in a lower tax bracket.
Kamehameha Schools offered a deferred compensation plan for key employees and trustees from the mid-1970s until the early 1990s.
Contacted at home yesterday, Peters said his deferred compensation is part of a retirement plan that he set up to provide for his family.
Peters said his past trustee pay was performance-based and was determined under a state law that at the time allowed trustees of charitable organizations to receive up to 2 percent of the organization's annual income.
He added that many of the estate's court-appointed masters have found the compensation was appropriate in their annual reviews of the estate's finances.
"We didn't have any retirement, a health plan or any other kind of those amenities. We just have those commissions and from those commissions, it was our responsibility to provide for our own future," Peters said. "Our compensation was performance-based. It was based on results."
Takabuki, who retired in 1993, and Richardson, who retired as trustee in 1992, could not be reached for immediate comment. When these three served as trustees, the charity was known as Bishop Estate.
APPROACHES CEO'S PAY
Peters' deferred compensation is about four times the amount paid to each of the current Kamehameha Schools trustees last year. It's also about three-quarters of the $574,230 that the charitable trust's Chief Executive Officer Dee Jay Mailer earned in 2006.
"That is a pretty big number," said Linda Lampkin, research director at ERI Economic Research Institute in Washington, D.C., and an executive pay expert specializing in the nonprofit sector.
Peters received the money from an individual deferred compensation plan he set up with trustee pay that he received in the 1980s and 1990s.
Before his resignation in 1999, Peters earned as much as $1 million a year as a trustee.
Peters, 66, is a former state House speaker. He served as a Kamehameha Schools trustee from 1984 until 1999 when he resigned along with fellow trustees Richard "Dickie" Wong, Lokelani Lindsey, Gerard Jervis and Oswald Stender.
The resignations came after the Internal Revenue Service threatened to revoke the charitable trust's tax-exempt status.
Kamehameha Schools spokeswoman Ann Botticelli had no comment on Peters' deferred pay.
COMPENSATION SLAMMED
When he resigned from the trust, Peters' deferred pay was criticized by the state attorney general's office. The AG's office — which had been seeking multi-million dollar fines against Peters and his fellow trustees — argued that Peters' deferred compensation was based on excessive pay that he received while he was trustee.
Deputy Attorney General Hugh Jones would not comment yesterday.
The estate's tax filings also show that Mailer's 2006 pay of $574,230 was up nearly $100,000, or about 21 percent, from her 2005 compensation of $474,240.
But even with the pay hike, Mailer was the estate's second-highest paid executive behind the trust's vice president of endowment, Kirk Belsby, who received $663,724 in total compensation last year.
Both Mailer and Belsby earned less than the $2.6 million average pay that the CEOs of Hawai'i's largest publicly traded companies received last year. But the salaries of the trust executives were in the general range of what top executives of the nation's largest nonprofits receive.
Lampkin, the Washington, D.C., executive pay expert, said the average annual compensation for top executives of charitable foundations with assets of $100 million or more was about $637,000 last year.
For large nonprofits including hospitals and universities with assets of $1 billion to $10 billion, the pay ranges between $513,000 a year and $1 million a year, Lampkin said.
HOW MUCH OTHERS MADE
Kamehameha Schools' tax filing for its 2006 fiscal year also listed the pay for several of its top executives, including:
Christopher Pating, vice president of strategic planning, who earned $461,415 last year;
Elizabeth Hokada, director of financial assets, who received $316,953;
Michael Loo, vice president of finance and administration, who was paid $299,630;
Vice President of Legal Services Colleen Wong, who earned $248,285;
Michael Chun, headmaster of Kamehameha Schools' Kapalama campus, who received $230,035;
Former state Budget Director Yukio Takemoto, who recently retired as the estate's director of facilities development, received $208,471 last year.
Founded by the 1884 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the Kamehameha Schools is a tax-exempt organization that educates children of Hawaiian ancestry. The estate is one of the nation's largest charities and is Hawai'i's largest private landowner with 365,000 acres.
EDUCATION SPENDING UP
The estate's 2006 tax filings also showed that the estate increased spending for its educational programs to 220 million, which included $197 million on campus and outreach programs.
Those expenditures included $11 million in financial aid for preschool to 12th-grade students, and another $12.7 million in post-high school financial aid.
The trust also spent $4.4 million in legal fees last year, with much of that going to defend its Hawaiians-first admission policy.
The trust announced Monday that it had settled a lawsuit that challenged its century-old Hawaiians-first admissions policy just as the U.S. Supreme Court was about to decide whether to take the case.
Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/May/16/ln/FP705160410.html/~ ~ ~
April 14, 1999
EMBATTLED EMPIRE
By Rick Daysog, Star-Bulletin
As alumni of the Kamehameha Schools debated the temporary removal of Bishop Estate trustees, Henry Haalilio Peters unexpectedly strolled into the well-attended conference room.
The atmosphere of the November 1997 meeting became tense. Graduates nervously eyed the trustee as he entered hostile territory. Hands that were previously 2 feet in the air were going up inches.
To say that the burly, 6-foot-tall Peters is an imposing presence in the Bishop Estate boardroom would be an understatement.
The 58-year-old former speaker of the state House of Representatives is the longest current serving trustee -- joining the five-person board in 1984 while still speaker -- and arguably the most powerful.
While trustee Richard "Dickie" Wong may be chairman, Peters, as treasurer and former acting asset manager, is the prime mover behind a financial empire that spans three continents and holds big stakes in names like Goldman Sachs Group and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Supporters see Peters as a larger-than-life folk hero who rose from a humble upbringing on the Waianae Coast to become House speaker and an $840,000-a-year trustee of one of the nation's richest charitable organizations.
They say he's remained down to earth, even as he rubs elbows with Wall Street investment bankers, Asian tycoons and U.S. Treasury secretaries.
Critics view him as a symbol of what's wrong with the Bishop Estate. Lawyers for trustee Oswald Stender regard Peters as key to the boardroom triumvirate that for years has ruled the estate and the estate-run Kamehameha Schools through a "fist of power."
Along with trustees Wong and Lokelani Lindsey, Peters has called for an investigation of teachers at the estate-run Kamehameha Schools over the release of a report critical of the trustees.
Peters -- who once broke his knuckles during an argument with a state lawmaker -- also has taken a hard line against critics within the Hawaiian community, calling them "Hawaiian shields" and "disgruntled and sophisticated country club Hawaiians."
He became so angry at Kamehameha Schools graduates who took part in the May 1997 march protesting trustees' management of the campus that he took down names of participants, implying future retaliation, according to court testimony of the estate's former spokeswoman. Peters denied the charge.
Peters often toys with his notoriety. He joked that his grandson asked him if the Bishop Estate was an evil empire and if Peters was Darth Vader.
His wisecrack response played on the theme of the popular "Star Wars" movies in which the menacing Vader redeemed himself in the end:
"I'm Luke's father," Peters said.
Cases against Henry Peters
Like Darth Vader, Peters is a villain, so cast by state prosecutors in the 2-year-old Bishop Estate saga.
Attorney General Margery Bronster has accused Peters and fellow trustees of an "educational tragedy" that has denied benefits to a generation of native Hawaiian children. Bronster has sued for the removal of Peters and trustees Wong, Lindsey and Gerard Jervis, alleging that the trustees jeopardized the estate's tax-exempt status and withheld $350 million in trust income from the Kamehameha Schools.
The temporary removal suit against Peters and Wong, now in trial before Probate Judge Colleen Hirai, is just one of several legal actions against Peters. Last November, an Oahu grand jury convened by Bronster indicted Peters for theft, making him the first board member to face criminal charges in the 114-year history of the charitable organization.
The indictment alleged that Peters took a $192,500 kickback from developer Jeff Stone, a brother-in-law of trustee Wong. In exchange, Stone and his mainland partner, National Housing Corp., received a "sweetheart deal" when they purchased the estate's fee interest to the Kalele Kai condominium project in Hawaii Kai in 1995, the state charged.
Calls for resignation
Critics say that Peters' legal woes not only tarnish the legacy of the estate's founder, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, but also interfere with his daily duties at the trust. They are calling for him to voluntarily resign, noting that he recently stepped down temporarily from the board of a Southern California savings and loan, PBOC Holdings Inc.
"It certainly doesn't look good to the outside world that one of the trustees has been indicted for a crime directly related to the performance of his fiduciary duties," said Randall Roth, University of Hawaii law professor and co-author of the 1997 "Broken Trust" article critical of trustees' management of the Bishop Estate. "He's innocent until proven guilty, but in the meantime it's hard to have a lot of confidence in him as a trustee."
Peters has pleaded not guilty and has refused to step down.
He believes that Bronster trumped up the criminal charge to leverage her removal case against him. Peters - who failed to get his indictment thrown out on jurisdictional grounds - said Kalele Kai has been a great deal for the estate and that Stone and his partners got no "sweetheart" transaction.
The $21.9 million price for the fee interest in Kalele Kai is almost 2-1/2 times that of an independently appraised value for the land and will serve as a benchmark for future leasehold conversions in East Honolulu, he said. The trial is set for January 2000.
(A separate grand jury on Monday indicted trustee Wong for theft, conspiracy and perjury in the same alleged kickback scheme. Wong expects to plead not guilty.)
"We are guilty of being successful," Peters said.
The Empire Strikes Back
In a recent interview, Peters characterized his legal woes as a Machiavellian setup.
He believes that former rival Gov. Ben Cayetano used the Bishop Estate controversy to bolster his position in the close re-election fight with Republican Linda Lingle last November.
The idea was to make the estate a scapegoat to divert attention from the state's fiscal woes, Peters said. Many of the estate's Hawaiian critics, he added, were enlisted to serve as "Hawaiian shields" in the Cayetano administration's campaign against the trust.
"They did a number on us," Peters said.
Peters' recent court filings accused Attorney General Bronster of abusing her powers and intimidating the state Supreme Court. Last year, the high court ended its century-old practice of selecting Bishop trustees and has recused itself from several estate-related cases.
He refers to Bronster as a "New York, Ivy League newcomer" who has embarked on a "personal crusade" against the Bishop Estate and its trustees because they don't share her "corporate missionary mentality."
A spokeswoman for Bronster declined response.
I personally feel that the majority of Hawaiians have not been told the truth," Peters said. "When they find out that KSBE has been maligned by these untruths about our operations and our management, there will be an explosion in this town. It will be heard across the country and probably the world."
Peters conceded that his legal woes have taken a toll on him and his family. But Peters said he doesn't let the controversy affect his daily life.
He joked that he recently was stopped for speeding on the highway near Makakilo, but the officer didn't issue him a ticket after he recognized Peters. The officer told him he didn't need a ticket because he had enough troubles as it is, Peters said.
"This is not the first time that Henry Peters was involved in controversy and it probably won't be the last," he said.
Humble upbringing
Peters was raised on the Waianae Coast in a close-knit family steeped in Hawaiian tradition. His mother, Hoaliku Drake, headed the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands under Gov. John Waihee.
Peters' great-grandfather, James Hakuole, was sent to Japan as a member of King Kalakaua's Hawaiian Youths Abroad program. Hakuole studied with members of the Japanese imperial family.
After graduating from Waipahu High School, Peters studied for two years to become a priest at the now-defunct Jackson College in Manoa before transferring to Brigham Young University, where he graduated with a degree in business administration.
While at BYU, Peters was a standout volleyball player, later playing against the likes of Olympic volleyball legend Pete Velasco and former Olympian Jon Stanley. Peters also had a tryout with the Pan American Games volleyball team but was left off the squad after he broke his ankle while playing basketball.
After a tour in the Army National Guard in the late 1960s, Peters became Waianae community advocate for the Model Cities program, a Nixon-era initiative to boost economic development in the inner cities. Waihee also worked on the staff of Model Cities, recalled local historian Bob Dye, who was former Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi's liaison for Model Cities.
"Both Waihee and Peters were on parallel paths," said Dye. "I was personally surprised that Henry didn't end up as governor. That's always where I thought he was headed."
Rose through the ranks
Peters was elected to the state House from Waianae in 1974 in a freshman class that included Cayetano, current state Senate President Norman Mizuguchi and U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie. He gained the confidence of then-Speaker James Wakatsuki, who guided Peters through the ranks to become speaker in 1980.
In 1984, Peters was named to the Bishop Estate board. Then-Chief Justice William Richardson said he believed Peters would become one of the best trustees ever.
Former Associate Supreme Court Justice Frank Padgett recalled that the selection of Peters was unanimous. While he may not have had the financial background back then, the justices believed that Peters would grow into the job and would benefit from the expertise of board member and legendary financier Matsuo Takabuki, Padgett said.
Padgett declined to comment on the current controversy, but said he had fond memories of Peters. When Padgett's wife suffered a stroke about a decade ago, Peters sent her two dozen roses.
"Henry is a very personable and a very caring guy," Padgett said.
Several credit lawmaker Peters with playing a key early role on ceded lands. Kamaki Kanahele, former Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee and Peters' cousin, said Peters helped pass legislation in the early 1980s that would later serve as the basis for the state's sharing of revenues from its use of former crown lands.
"It was a historical decision because it was the difference between Hawaiians getting something or Hawaiians getting nothing," Kanahele said.
Larry Meacham, executive director of Common Cause/Hawaii, has a different perspective. Common Cause, a citizen watchdog group, often complained about Peters' dual role as a lawmaker and as a trustee of the state's largest private landowner, Meacham said.
Persuasive presence
While Peters may not have openly voted on issues that affected the trust, such as legislation involving trustees' compensation and the leasehold conversion, Meacham said he had an influence on the direction of the legislation.
"That's one of the reasons the management of the Bishop Estate has escaped scrutiny for many years," Meacham said.
Peters had an image as a brooding and intimidating person during his political career, earning the nickname of the House bouncer.
In one often-recounted tale, Peters broke his knuckles during a 1979 dispute over organizational issues with a fellow lawmaker, former state Rep. Mits Uechi.
Peters, then House majority leader, confronted dissident legislator Uechi and banged his hand on Uechi's office furniture, according to news reports.
Later that same day, Peters got into a shouting match with then-Rep. Oliver Lunasco, also a member of the dissident group. Peters called the incident unfortunate and said he doesn't intend to come across as intimidating.
"When he gives you a handshake, he means it 100 percent," Kanahele said. "But if you reneged on one, oh boy, you have an enemy."
'Schoolyard bully'
The toughness that Peters developed in the athletic and political arenas is also present in his business dealings.
Larry Landry, former chief financial officer for the $4 billion John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which is a co-investor with the estate in a Boston-based investment fund and a Florida apartment complex, describes Peters as a savvy and thorough investment manager.
Deal promoters often approach large foundations and charitable trusts thinking they have deep pockets. But Peters brings a healthy skepticism to anyone who brings an investment to the estate, according to Landry.
"Henry is extremely bright and has the right kind of conservative (investment) philosophy," said Landry, who now serves as chief executive officer of Florida-based Westport Realty Advisers. "He's good at making sure that whoever they're dealing with have their skins in the game."
Some businessmen have complained that Peters can be heavy-handed. For instance, when a group led by Tokyo General Corp. acquired the Kahala Mandarin Hotel in 1993, Peters refused to give the partners a break on the annual lease rent even after the partners decided to invest at least $30 million in hotel improvements and agreed to pay the estate's $1 million litigation costs.
Those involved say Peters often overruled previous negotiations by then-asset manager Tony Sereno.
Peters plays hardball
Peters is just as tough in the boardroom, according to sources. Peters once got into a shouting match with trustee Jervis over the estate's legal strategy. The confrontation ended after Peters reportedly uttered an ethnic slur disparaging Jervis' Portuguese background, sources familiar with the event said.
Peters said he did not recall the incident.
Supporters concede that Peters can be harsh but say that just shows he's taking his fiduciary duties seriously.
"He wants to make sure that never, never again will the Hawaiian people be ripped off," said Kanahele.
To be sure, there are questions about his skills as an investment manager.
In his review of the estate's 1994-1996 accounts, court-appointed master Colbert Matsumoto and the accounting firm of Arthur Andersen said the estate -- during Peters' tenure as acting asset manager -- generated an embarrassing return on investment of minus 1 percent. During that period, the trust set aside more than $240 million in reserves for future losses.
That woeful performance came as Wall Street was in the midst of a record bull run in which investors could have made double-digit returns just by putting their money in an index fund.
Matsumoto's findings have served as a major foundation for the attorney general's removal petitions against the trustees.
Peters takes strong exception to the master's report, saying Matsumoto failed to understand the complexity of the estate's finances. Peters also suggests ulterior motives on the master's part.
Contrasting outlook
Peters believes that the estate's investments are extremely healthy and cited top credit ratings by Standard & Poors and Moody's Investors Service. He also pointed to the estate's successful investment in Goldman Sachs Group, in which the estate has more than tripled its initial $500 million investment.
The Bishop Estate -- which until the late 1970s had been a land-rich, cash-poor trust that could barely meet school expenses -- has seen its investments grow at a compound, annual rate of 17.3 percent since the late 1980s, he added.
If the estate followed many of Matsumoto's and Arthur Andersen's recommendations, it would have suffered huge losses during the Black Tuesday stock market crash of October 1987 as well as the recent Russian and Asian economic crises, he said.
"This mastering process has become so political that it's an embarrassment to the Judiciary. ... It should be an embarrassment to the C.J. (state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Moon) and it should be an embarrassment to the people of Hawaii," Peters said.
Last year, Peters joined with Wong and Lindsey to seek Matsumoto's removal as master and to invalidate his findings. They believe that he is a political crony of Cayetano's who is doing the governor's bidding.
Probate Judge Hirai in January rejected Peters' motion to remove Matsumoto after the master's attorney, James Duffy, likened Peters, Wong and Lindsey to "schoolyard bullies" who were attacking the master not because the report was inaccurate but because the findings were critical of them.
Peters now believes that he probably should have worked closer with Matsumoto and critics within the Kamehameha ohana about their concerns on the management of the estate and the Kamehameha Schools.
"I'm disappointed it's gotten this far. In hindsight, could we have done something differently or better?" Peters said last week. "Would it have helped? I'm not sure. It could have. I'm a great Monday quarterback."
http://starbulletin.com/1999/04/14/news/story1.html
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Henry Peters is also expected to testify regarding his relationships with Defendant, P&C Insurance Company, Judge Kevin Chang, Judge David Ezra, Judge Eden Elizabeth Hifo (fka Bambi Weil), Judge Karen Radius, Judge Barry Kurren, Faye Kurren, Elizabeth K. Lindsey Buyers, Rocco Sansone, Edwina Clarke, William Rosehill, Elisa Yadao, United Educators Risk Retention Group, Robert Herkes, Peter Savio, Robert Faris, Milton Holt, Bob Lindsey, Panin Group, Sukamto Sia, Robert Rubin, Henry Paulson, Goldman Sachs, Investcorp, APCOA Parking, Peter Savio, The Nature Conservancy, Ben Benson, Richard Rainwater, Joshua Gotbaum, Lazard Freres, Marsh & McLennan, P&C Insurance Company, Federal Insurance Co. (Chubb Group), Jared Jossem, Robert Katz, Matt Tsukazaki, Gilbert Tam, William S. Richardson, Richard Wong, Jeff Stone, Kevin Showe, Ko Olina Resorts, Azabu USA Inc.; Mitzui Trust; Michael McKenzie, McKenzie Methane, Wayne Rogers, John Mullen & Co., Kona Enterprises, William E. Simon, HonFed, Mid-Ocean Reinsurance, Robert Clements, Paul Bremer, Investors Equity, George Ariyoshi, John Waihee, Guido Giacometti, Susan Tius, Nathan Aipa, Colleen Wong, Louanne Kam, Lyn Anzai, Earl Anzai, Barack Obama, Aloha Petroleum, David Schutter, Larry Mehau, Judge Rey Graulty, Carol Muranaka, James B. Nicholson, Jim Nicholson, Mary Lou Woo, Judge Colleen Hirai, Judge Alan Kay, Judge Michael Town, Judge James Duffy, Judge Alan Kay, Judge Michael Seabright, David C. Farmer, and others to be named upon discovery.
Internet References:
Zoominfo Profile for Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU
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Chronologies
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http://starbulletin.com/2006/02/26/news/story02.html
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Equity 2048 -The Richards Report
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XL Reinsurance Policy No. XLRKS-01796
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Equity 2048 - Related Correspondence and Documents
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www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-Seal-Docs-5-3-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-PC-Peters-5-5-0.pdf
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www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-Form990-1998-pdf
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www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-Deposition-Notice-7-21-0.pdf
IRS Closing Agreement for Kamehameha Schools
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Apartheid, Hawaiian Style
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Broken Trust - The Book
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Lost Generations: A Boy, A School, A Princess
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KITV Special Report
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TO GO TO THE WOO VS. HARMON WITNESS INDEX
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CHRONOLOGY
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