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
JOHN D. WAIHEE, III
John Waihee, III was the Hawaii Governor (D) from 1986 to 1994; appointed Judge Kevin S. Chang in 1993; friend of President William J. Clinton and former trustee Gerard Jervis; real estate investor.
Address to be determined.
* * * * *
~ ~ ~
RON REWALD: FLYING HIGH IN HAWAII
GOOGLING FOR JOHN WAIHEE IN MAUNAWILI VALLEY
* * * * *
THE JOHN WAIHEE PHOTO GALLERY
http://www.newsmakingnews.com/vm,deadly,1991,10,27,04,pt3.htm
http://www.jimnabors.com/pictures9.html
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/price_of_apology_clinton_obama/
http://starbulletin.com/2000/11/28/news/story3.html
http://starbulletin.com/1999/10/12/news/story1a.html
http://www.kahea.org/nars/history.html
* * *
NEW DISCOVERY (01-25-10): More evidence of undisclosed conflicts of interest between the U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Michael Mucasey, John Ashcroft, Eric Holder, Edward Kubo, John Goemans, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, Chief Justice William S. Richardson, Chief Justice John Roberts, Governor Linda Lingle, Governor George Ariyoshi, Governor John Waihee, Governor Ben Cayetano, Margery Bronster, Earl Anzai, Mark Bennett, Francis Keala, Larry Mehau, Sukamto Sia, Diane Plotts, Constance Lau, Bob Awana, CIA, FBI, IRS, Janet Hughes, Ron Rewald, Ken Starr, James Paul, John Peyton, James Nicholson, David C. Farmer, and other entities directly related in this case.
January 25, 2010
2 former staffers oppose Kubo
By Jim Dooley Advertiser Staff Writer
Included among an outpouring of support from judges, lawyers and prosecutors for the nomination of former U.S. Attorney Edward Kubo as a state judge were two harsh and critical letters written by assistant U.S. attorneys who used to work for Kubo.
The letters, from Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Inciong and Thomas Muehleck, were among dozens sent to the state Senate Judiciary and Government Operations Committee about Kubo's nomination to serve as a Circuit Court judge.
A hearing on Kubo's nomination was held by the committee Thursday and featured uniformly positive and glowing testimony from witnesses.
Neither Inciong nor Muehleck testified at the hearing, which was halted while Kubo was still testifying and will resume Thursday.
Numerous dignitaries of the legal profession, as well as political figures including Mayors Mufi Hannemann of Honolulu and William Kenoi of the Big Island, wrote to recommend Kubo as a judge.
Inciong said in his letter that Kubo improperly inserted the U.S. Attorney's office into a state court domestic violence case that involved two agents with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE.
In that case, ICE Special Agent Evelyn Delos Reyes Ramo obtained a restraining order in November 2008 against her former boyfriend, who worked as an immigration enforcement agent.
The restraining order, which is in effect until May, was granted after Ramo alleged that Jonathan Winnop threatened to kill her on multiple occasions and physically abused her by "punching, kicking, slapping ... spitting on me ... choking me with his hands, holding a knife to me ... and put(ting) his foot on my throat until I would pass out."
kubo's court brief
Kubo's office filed a "friend of the court" brief in the case in March 2009, which Inciong alleged was an improper attempt to "ease the conditions" of the restraining order against Winnop.
"The filing reeked on several levels and the true reason for the filing has yet to be revealed," Inciong wrote to the committee.
"It is ironic, to say the least, that if Mr. Kubo would be appointed to the bench it is my understanding that he would begin at the Family Court, a place where, less than a year ago, he attempted to intervene on behalf of a domestic batterer," Inciong wrote.
Kubo is expected to discuss Inciong's letter in testimony to the committee. He declined to discuss either letter written by his former employees.
State Sen. Sam Slom, R-8th (Kähala, Hawai'i Kai), a Kubo supporter, said Kubo testified at some length Thursday about Muehleck's letter, but said little about Inciong, other than to describe him as a friend and supporter of Muehleck.
Muehleck, a longtime federal prosecutor who has specialized in narcotics cases, disagreed with Kubo's policies at the U.S. Attorney's office, Kubo told the committee.
When Muehleck, a U.S. Army Reserve officer, returned to work in 2008 from a yearlong deployment to Iraq, he was upset to learn that a parking space he had previously used at the federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area offices here was no longer available to him, Kubo told the committee.
He was so angry about the issue and other matters that at one point he said about Kubo, "If I had a hand grenade now I would frag him," Slom said Kubo testified.
workplace dispute
Kubo reported the incident as a workplace violence issue and tried to fire Muehleck when the prosecutor was in the middle of a narcotics and gambling prosecution trial.
Muehleck hired a private attorney and fought the dismissal after Kubo banished him from the U.S. Attorney's office. He worked for a year in temporary space inside the FBI office here and has since been reinstated.
Muehleck and his attorney, Charles Kleintop, have declined to discuss the matter.
In his letter to the Judiciary Committee, Muehleck wrote, "I can say without reservation that in my opinion Mr. Kubo is not qualified to serve as a judge."
He questioned Kubo's leadership abilities and knowledge of the law, saying, "Mr. Kubo has spent the last eight years building his resume at the expense of the people of this (federal) district."
Those letters were balanced against a near-avalanche of letters recommending Kubo for the judgeship.
Kubo, a Republican, served as U.S. Attorney for eight years but was replaced last year by Florence Nakakuni, a career prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's office here.
State Sen. Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Mänoa, McCully), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Government Operations Committee, said senators have some concerns about Kubo's nomination. He said his staff will look into the criticisms before the next hearing.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100125/NEWS01/1250320/-1/
# # #
See related exhibits at
http://sites.google.com/site/thecatbirdsnest/
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (12-22-09): More evidence of bias and undisclosed conflicts of interest of Judge Eden Elizabeth Hifo (fka Bambi Weil) with Gov. John Waihee, Judge William S. Richardson, Judge Colleen Hirai, Judge Kevin Chang, Judge David Ezra, etc:
JUDGES HIFO, HIRAI TO STEP DOWN
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR JOHN WAIHEE + THE CATBIRD SEAT
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR JOHN WAIHEE + BARACK OBAMA
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR CLINTON & THE HAWAIIAN CONNECTION
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR BARACK OBAMA + BILL CLINTON + JOHN WAIHEE
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR JOHN WAIHEE + BISHOP ESTATE
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR JOHN WAIHEE + THE NATURE CONSERVANCY
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR JOHN WAIHEE + BILL CLINTON
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR JOHN WAIHEE + JUDGE KEVIN CHANG
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR JOHN WAIHEE + JUDGE DAVID EZRA
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR JOHN WAIHEE + JUDGE BARRY KURREN
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR JOHN WAIHEE + RIGHTSTAR + BANKRUPTCY + JUDGE ROBERT FARIS
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR JOHN WAIHEE + SUKAMTO SIA
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR JOHN WAIHEE + RON REWALD
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR JOHN WAIHEE + ROBERT BRUCE GRAHAM + DAVID FARMER
* * * * *
NEW DISCOVERY (05-14-09): Zoominfo profile for Governor John D. Waihee, III:
www.zoominfo.com/Search/ReferencesView.aspx?PersonID=3386083
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (04-26-09): More undisclosed conflicts of interest between David Farmer, Warren Price, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sharon Himeno, Ben Cayetano, John Waihee, Renton Nip, etc.
Ex-Justice
Nakamura dies
He was a guiding force in Hawaii's
Democratic revolution of the 1950s
By Mike Yuen, Star-Bulletin
Former labor attorney and state Supreme Court Justice Edward Nakamura, widely regarded as a man of integrity unafraid to criticize abuses of power, died early yesterday at Queen's Hospital after undergoing open heart surgery.
Nakamura, 74, had suffered a heart attack Saturday, said his wife, Martha Nakamura.
Even after retirement in 1989 after nearly 10 years as an associate justice, Nakamura remained an influential figure. He played a key behind-the-scenes role in the crafting of the Aug. 9 "Broken Trust" opinion piece in the Star-Bulletin that spurred Gov. Ben Cayetano to order an investigation of the $10 billion Bishop Estate, one of the nation's largest charitable trusts.
"It was only after three meetings with Ed over pancakes at the Like Like Drive Inn that I started to see 'the whole picture,'" said University of Hawaii law Professor Randall Roth, one of the five authors of the essay. "Without his guidance, the project might never have gotten off the ground."
He provided needed insight
Nakamura provided insight into how things worked. "It was an insider's look at the Democratic power structure," Roth said. "He was fed up with the way things have evolved. He felt some people in recent years betrayed what the ideals of the Democratic revolution (of the 1950s) were all about. They were watching out for themselves rather than the ideals of their predecessors."
Roth added: "In his quiet but firm way, Ed always followed his conscience, even when that was certain to displease powerful people."
In 1993, Nakamura opposed then-Gov. John Waihee's nomination of attorney Sharon Himeno to the state Supreme Court, which drew fire because of her political connections and because her law firm represented her father, developer Stanley Himeno, in a questionable business deal involving the state pension fund.
Nakamura advised attorneys who publicly opposed Himeno's nomination, which was rejected by the Senate.
Resigned from board
That same year, Nakamura testified in the Senate's special investigation into the management of the state pension fund. He said that during his tenure as a fund trustee, a golf course deal was pushed by the then-chairman of the Employees' Retirement System, Gordon Uyeda, that would have provided a financial windfall for Uyeda's friend, developer Rodney Inaba.
When the pension board voted to purchase the Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley, Calif., Nakamura resigned in protest.
But the $31 million deal quickly unraveled with Waihee apparently playing a role in getting trustees to abandon the project.
A self-described liberal
Nakamura was born in Honolulu on Oct. 9, 1922, the son of immigrant laborers. A self-described liberal, he was one of the many Japanese-American veterans of World War II who went to college on the GI bill and joined the Democratic Party, helping it transform Hawaii into a society that offered more educational and employment opportunities for non-Caucasians.
Although he considered himself simply a "foot soldier" in the campaigns of John Burns, who would eventually become governor, many considered Nakamura to be a key architect of the Democratic revolution.
After graduating from the University of Chicago law school in 1951, in the same class with U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink, Nakamura joined Bouslog & Symonds, then the only labor law firm in Hawaii at a time when lawyers were fearful of representing workers. It was when McCarthyism fanned congressional investigations into organized labor in search of "subversive activities."
He was 'model attorney'
Martha Nakamura remembers that when her husband, who also served as a University of Hawaii regent, was asked to describe himself, "He always said he was a labor lawyer for 28 years. He always said that first."
Attorney Jared Jossem, former state Republican Party chairman who was Nakamura's legal adversary in about 50 cases, said: "He was a model attorney who represented his clients effectively and brilliantly.
"In developing proposals to legally change labor-management relations, he quietly worked the political side to get his clients' and his vision into legislation. He combined intellectual power with inordinate political skills."
Centrist view as justice
When Nakamura joined the high court, there were fears that he would be one-sided since he was a labor attorney with no prior experience on the bench. But that did not happen.
"As a justice, he adopted a more centrist view balancing the specific interests of unions and employers," Jossem said.
One of the high court's key decisions authored by Nakamura declared that an employer's written handbooks and policies can be considered binding contracts under certain circumstances. That protects workers not covered by collective-bargaining agreements or employment contracts.
Retired state appellate Judge Walter Heen, another co-author of the "Broken Trust" opinion piece, said: "Justice Nakamura will stand out in the history of Hawaii as one of its finest legal minds and one who possessed the highest concern for principle. His opinions reflect both those characteristics."
Retired Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice William Richardson, who served with Nakamura, all of the current justices, U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, who served with Nakamura in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Gov. Ben Cayetano and attorney James King, Nakamura's former law partner, all praised Nakamura for his honesty, integrity and wisdom.
A mentor to many
Scores of legal professionals as old as the 69-year-old Heen and as young as 33-year-old state Rep. Scott Saiki (D, Moiliili) claim Nakamura as their mentor.
"I think he had so much integrity and wisdom, and he led by example," said Saiki.
Nakamura's nephew, attorney James Kawashima, 31, added: "He was very principled and always ethical. Sometimes that's rare in people and lawyers both."...
http://archives.starbulletin.com/97/09/12/news/story3.html
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERIES (02-08-09): More undisclosed conflicts of interest between Steven Guttman, James Duca, David Farmer, Guido Giacometti, Alan Yee, Diane Hastert, John Waihee, etc.:
February 14, 2005
Receiver fires RightStar execs
Pacific Business News (Honolulu)
The court-appointed receiver of an embattled Hawaii cemetery business said Monday he has fired a handful of the company's top executives since his appointment two months ago.
Guido Giacometti said that among key officers let go from RightStar Hawaii Management Inc. are principals John Dooley and Kathy Hoover, who were named in the recent foreclosure suit that led to Giacometti's appointment.
Giacometti, a Big Island resident, said he also fired RightStar CEO Bruce Dooley, who is John Dooley's brother, and the company's chief information officer, Zachery Hoover, Kathy Hoover's son.
"It was a top-heavy management structure," Giacometti said. "Over a year's time, we should see six figures in savings from the changes we've made."
Circuit Court Judge Sabrina McKenna appointed Giacometti to run the cemetery business after it was sued by Vestin Mortgage Inc. on Nov. 16, 2004, for defaulting on an estimated $34 million loan.
Cemeteries under RightStar management include Valley of the Temples in Kaneohe, Kona Memorial and Homelani Memorial on the Big Island and Maui Memorial.
~ ~ ~
May 6, 2005
John Candon steps in to investigate RightStar finances
Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - by Harold Nedd
Accountant John Candon is ready to help state investigators determine whether an estimated $20 million was misused by an embattled cemetery business and four trustees, including former Gov. John D. Waihee III.
The 53-year-old president of Candon Consulting Group is the court-appointed master in the Office of the Attorney General's lawsuit against RightStar Hawaii Management Inc. and has been asked to pore over the company's books.
His task will be to uncover the great mystery behind the $20 million that is supposed to be in a trust for nearly 20,000 people who pre-paid for funeral services at Hawaii cemeteries.
Follow the money
What is supposed to emerge from his forensic accounting work is a portrait of where that money went and who -- if anybody -- is to blame for the lapse at RightStar.
Jim Wagner, the lawyer representing RightStar, contends that there has been no wrongdoing. Rather, he says, the company inherited serious financial problems when it bought the business out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware in 2001.
It's Candon's job to penetrate that structure to detect whether there was wrongdoing at RightStar, which fired Waihee, a Democrat who served as governor from 1986 to 1994, and three other trustees.
"We will follow the money and do our best to find out what's going on," Candon told PBN. "People want to get the trust accounts straightened out. They want to get to the bottom of this and we're delighted that they feel we'll do a good job."
Candon's appointment comes following the court's appointment of a receiver, Guido Giacometi, to run the day-to-day operation of the cemetery business that has been sued by a Nevada mortgage company for defaulting on an estimated $34 million loan.
Giacometi's job is to help keep RightStar in business, paying bills and serving clients. In contrast, Candon's role is to dig into the company's finances.
The law requires RightStar and other businesses licensed for pre-need funeral services to put 70 percent of the money into a trust fund to be held until it's used for funeral expenses.
The law also requires RightStar to give an accounting for those funds every year. RightStar didn't do that in 2002 or 2003.
The state said it already knows from independent audit firm KMH LLP that $20 million was withdrawn from RightStar's pre-need trusts. In its lawsuit, the state said $38 million is still in RightStar's trust funds. But there should be $58 million.
If anybody can figure out what happened to that money, it's Candon, said James Duca, a bankruptcy lawyer in Honolulu.
Candon's résumé is full of the kind of "forensic accounting" work that involves finding out all the facts that need to be learned, Duca said.
"One of his specialties is reassembling records and figuring out where the money went," Duca said.
Other lawyers point out that it's difficult to "snow" him with too much information and expect that he'll find the "needle in the haystack." Colleagues insist that following $20 million around isn't too tricky for Candon, who they say is known to go wherever the money takes him.
Previous court-appointed cases include the bankrupt House of Adler, a large retail jewelry chain. Candon had to liquidate its roughly $10 million in assets to repay creditors.
Also, Candon was brought in by the courts when Jackson Builders Corp., a large drywall contracting firm, went under and needed someone to collect on debt and pay bills.
Plus, he is a court-appointed trustee for Trans Hawaiian, the motor coach company currently in a complex dispute with Roberts Hawaii involving roughly $10 million. On top of all that, Candon is the special master in a $3 million dispute between Loveland Academy and the state Department of Education.
Within the past couple of weeks, lawyers for the state and RightStar gave the court their consent for Candon to be appointed master. His appointment will become official once it has been sanctioned by the court.
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (02-04-09): More undisclosed conflicts of interest between David Farmer, James Nicholson, Steven Guttman, Paul Alston, Judith Neustadter Fuqua, John Waihee, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Janet Reno, Alberto Gonzales, Michael Mukasey, Eric Holder, and other witnesses in this case:
June 26, 2008
Pardongate Is The Least of
Eric Holder’s Sins
© Jack Cashill, www.WorldNetDaily.com
“I was wondering when you were going to call me,” so said the irrepressible Nolanda Butler Hill when I phoned last week.
She knew precisely what item of news had prompted me to call: the revelation that Barack Obama had selected Clinton Deputy Attorney General and Ron Brown protege, Eric Holder, to help vet his vice presidential candidates.
As the confidante and business partner of the late Clinton Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, Hill knows from personal experience that Holder’s sins go well beyond his seamy role in the Marc Rich pardon scandal.
In the way of background, in May 1995, Clinton’s unpredictable Attorney General Janet Reno called for an independent counsel to assess whether Ron Brown had “accepted things of value” from Hill in exchange for his influence.
Reno’s pursuit of Brown did not shock either of them. He had been the subject of an inquiry for months. Targeting Hill, however, had no precedent, and it unnerved them both.
By statute, the independent counsel law applied only to political and government figures. “It was unlawful,” says Hill of her own targeting, “I was the only such person in history.”
In time, the independent counsel also targeted Brown’s son, Michael, for laundering money to his father through a scam minority set aside deal with a sleazy pair of Asian-American fundraisers. In Hill’s words, Michael “was as guilty as a goose.”
Hill and Brown both understood that she was being targeted in the hopes that she would roll over on Brown. Her condition for not doing so was that Brown share with her his every point of vulnerability.
Nowhere was Brown more vulnerable than in his unwelcome role as chief bagman for the Clintons’ relentless and often illicit fundraising in the run-up to the 1996 election.
Hill learned virtually every unseemly detail--from Brown’s go-between work with the Chicoms and their American vendors to his wholesale distribution of walking around money to Democratic race hustlers. As Brown understood, Hill knew way too much.
Even before his own mysterious death, Brown worried openly about her life and safety. He went so far as to call Hill’s sister, with whom she stayed from time to time, and insist Hill not be allowed to go out jogging alone.
As soon as Brown died, the independent counsel ceased the investigation into his illicit activities. As to Michael, he pled guilty to a single misdemeanor, accepted a small fine, and was out playing golf with the president a month later.
Not surprisingly, however, the Justice Department kept the pressure on the outspoken Hill, still deeply troubled by the circumstances surrounding Brown’s death.
Hill took heart when, in July 1997, President Clinton appointed Holder to replace Jamie Gorelick as Deputy Attorney General. Although ostensibly second in command, the Deputy AG was the real power in Justice, the Clinton equivalent of a Soviet “political officer.”
Hill knew Holder through Brown, who had been instrumental in getting him his previous job as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
She and her attorney wasted no time in contacting Holder at the American Bar Association Annual Meeting, which was held that year in San Francisco in early August.
Holder, however, did not get to be Deputy AG by being naïve. “The train is already going down the tracks,” he explained to Hill. “It will take your cooperation to stop it.”
The “train” in question was a D.C. grand jury, which was being led to indict Hill. The “cooperation” meant Hill keeping her mouth shut.
Hill clarifies, “He [Holder] told me and my attorney that if I told what I knew about election fundraising I would be indicted.”
Holder was as good as his word. On March 13, 1998, ten days before Hill was to testify in a suit brought by Judicial Watch on the subject of Brown’s fundraising, the Clinton Justice Department indicted Hill on trumped up charges of fraud and tax evasion.
The willfully blind lead of the New York Times called the indictment “a vivid example of how an investigation can outlive its target.”
Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch knew better. In a motion to the court, he would write, “The timing of these events is neither accidental nor coincidental. Ms. Hill’s indictment was likely an effort to retaliate against her and deter her from giving any further damaging testimony at the March 23, 1998 hearing.”
At White House bidding, Holder had Hill indicted to shut her up, and he succeeded. Anxious, alone, and broke, facing as many as seventy years in prison if convicted, Hill chose to negotiate a deal.
On June 15, 1999, a day before her fifty-fifth birthday, she reported to a halfway house in Seagoville, Texas, her silence at least temporarily assured.
As James Sanders, my partner on the TWA 800 investigation, can attest, silencing whistleblowers through bogus prosecution was the modus operandi in the Holder era. Sanders and his wife Elizabeth were indicted and convicted on federal conspiracy charges on Holder’s watch.
Although generally appalled by the Clintons, Hill understands how betrayed they must feel when their very proteges desert them for Obama.
Holder did so early on. “Given Holder’s credentials,” the Chicago Tribune reported breathlessly in August 2007, “it isn’t outside the realm of possibility to suggest he could wind up the nation’s first African-American attorney general should Obama win the White House.”
Hill thinks she knows why Holder jumped ship. He was a key player in a racially exclusive cabal of DC insiders. “He’s so racist it’s not even funny,” she says of Holder, “not only racist but elitist.”
Still, no matter how compromised Holder might be, Obama can ill afford to dismiss him from his vice-presidential selection committee.
Obama has already had to dismiss one of the three selectors. If he dismisses a second, it will become absurdly obvious that the real problem is not Holder or Jim Johnson of Countrywide fame, but Mr. Obama himself
http://www.cashill.com/natl_general/pardongate.htm
* * * * *
NEW DISCOVERY (11-30-08):
THE BEST GOVERNMENT MONEY CAN BUY
* * * * *
NEW DISCOVERIES (11-25-08): Exhibit: “EQ2048 - DEPOSITIONS OF JOHN D. WAIHEE, VOLUME I & MARION MAE LINDSEY, VOLUME III”. This document provides more evidence regarding the IRS “interim sanctions” and “arms length” issues, and undisclosed conflicts of interest between Governor John D. Waihee, Lokelani Lindsey, Richard Wong, Oswald Stender, Henry Peters, Gerard Jervis, Nathan Aipa, Gilbert Ishikawa, Colleen Wong, Louanne Kam, Bruce Graham, Mark McConaghy, Colbert Matsumoto, Judge Kevin Chang, Judge David Ezra, Judge Eden Elizabeth Hifo, Judge Patrick Yim, Judge Lloyd King, Judge Robert Faris, and other parties related to this lawsuit:
http://www.kycbs.net/Lindsey-docs-Vol-2.pdf
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (11-24-08): 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
http://www.kycbs.net/Lindsey-docs-Vol-2.pdf
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (08-23-08): Undisclosed conflicts of interests between David Farmer, James Nicholson, John Waihee, Bill Clinton, Ron Rewald, Larry Mehau, BCCI, others:
Check out The Executions of
two reporters Anson Ng and
Joseph "Danny Casolaro
Saturday, August 23, 2008 5:46 PM
From: "Hapa1234@aol.com" <Hapa1234@aol.com>
To: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov, sf.nancy@mail.house.gov, senator@akaka.senate.gov, webmaster@ustaxcourt.gov, keith.i.kawachi@hawaii.gov, edo@spike.dor.state.co.us, insfraud@dcca.hawaii.gov, bobby_n_harmon@yahoo.com, hwburgess@hawaii.rr.com
The Executions of two reporters Anson Ng and Joseph "Danny Casolaro" by Virginia McCullough
HANA HOU....ONE MORE TIME FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD: OMINIOUS PARELLES....HELPING CONNECT THE DIRTY LITTLE POLITICAL DOTS IN WASHINGTON DC:
Public Scope: former Hawaii Eagle Scout / University of Hawaii William Richardson Law School cabal / Broken Trust Hawaiian Sovereignty Activist / Asian Pacific Hui - Investor associate under the Political 1978 Hawaii Constitutional Convention with the stealth creation for the nonprofit Office of Hawaiian Affairs / Hawaii Lt. Governor from the Big Island of Hawaii {1982 - 1986} and Hawaii Governor {1986 - 1994} / Close Political Associate to former President William J. Clinton linked to former National DNC Chairman - U.S. Commerce & Trade Director Ron Brown linked to:
CHINA-GATE - John Hugan - Charlie Trie - Norman Hsu} vis -a-vis THE INDONESIAN CONNECTIONS {Honolulu Bank President - Sia Sakamto vis-a-vis Moctar Riaday under the corrupt U.S. supported Sukharno Dictator Regime} with the Asian Pacific Advisory convicted cabals / Waikiki T-Shirt Vendors / Hawaii -California Political Consultants linked to the Oklahoma Dynamics Energy Co investments with Rose Law {Hugh Rodham} Law Firm connections for Gene and Nora Lum; PARDONGATE connections to the earlier IRAQ-GATE cabals under the Bush Sr. Administrations linked later to Clinton Political Pardons for SEC BILLIONAIRE Fugitive / Israeli Philanthropist / MARC RICH and former convicted HUD Director / Colorado RNC - University of Denver International Studies cabals for PHIL WINN.
Please scroll down, again, for John Waihee with convicted CIA - Asian Pacific Scapegoat for BBRD&W CEO scapegoat involving the Silence of the Lambs: U.S. Federal Prosecutors John Peyton and Kenneth Starr, in collusion with Hawaii District Judges Martin Pence {Hilo Sugar Strikers} and Harold Fong {both deceased}, with Political - Judicial scapegoat UH Law School novice - California Appointed Federal District Judge - Brian Tomahana.
Do the Disavowed facts matter with A - LO - HA FOR ALL?
dismissed mutant ninja blackcats with Boots on the Ground for Uncle Sam's Guinea Pigs - Sovereign South Pacific Kabuki theatre
http://www.newsmakingnews.com/vm,deadly,1991,10,27,04,pt3.htm
* * * * *
Disavow: A CIA Story of Betrayal
By Rodney Stich & T. Conan Russell
The Saga of
Ron Rewald and Bishop, Baldwin, Rewald & Wong
CAST OF CHARACTERS
http://www.namebase.org/sources/ZS.html
* * * * *
NEW DISCOVERY (08-15-08): Undisclosed conflicts of interests between Dan Inouye, Ted Stevens, VECO Corporation, George W. Bush, John McCain, Dick Cheney, Halliburton, Shell Oil, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, John Waihee, Ben Cayetano, Bishop Estate, Aloha Petroleum, James Ahloy, Chevron-Texaco, Mark Bennett, Linda Lingle, Tesoro Petroleum, Faye Kurren, Judge Barry Kurren, Enron, Goldman Sachs, Robert Rubin, Henry Paulson, Henry Peters, Paul Alston, etc.:
December 6, 1996
ENRON and Shell Win Bid in
Capitalization of YPFB's
Transportation Segment
LA PAZ, BOLIVIA – Enron Development Corp. and Shell International Gas Ltd. announced today that the government of Bolivia has named the companies the successful capitalizing company for the transportation segment of the state oil and gas company, Yacimientos Petroliferos...
Business Wire
~ ~ ~
March 30, 1998
The following is an excerpt from a 10-K SEC Filing, filed by TESORO PETROLEUM CORP on 3/30/1998:
ACCESS TO NEW MARKETS
A lack of market access has constrained natural gas production in Bolivia. With little internal gas demand, all of the Company's Bolivian natural gas production is sold under contract to the Bolivian government for export to Argentina.
Major developments in South America indicate that new markets will open for the Company's production. Construction of a new 1,900-mile pipeline that will link Bolivia's extensive gas reserves with markets in Brazil commenced in 1997 and is expected to be operational in early 1999.
The owners of the new pipeline include Petrobras (the Brazilian state oil company), other Brazilian investors, Enron Corp., Shell International Gas Ltd., British Gas PLC, El Paso Energy Corp., BHP, and Bolivian pension funds. When completed, the new pipeline will have a capacity of approximately 1 billion cubic feet ("Bcf") per day.
For more, see...
Citigroup: Vampires in the City
Vultures Up to their Necks in Tesoro Petroleum
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (07-12-08):
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (07-21-08):
October 10, 2003
Hemmeter
still fighting
The one-time Hawaii resort
developer has come back
to town to see friends
and speak his piece
By Russ Lynch, Star-Bulletin
Former Hawaii developer Chris Hemmeter has battled prostate cancer and Parkinson's disease and is now dealing with a killer cancer affecting the bile duct. For Hemmeter, it's a liver transplant or death and his doctors told him he wouldn't make his 64th birthday.
But in a visit with friends in Honolulu this week, which included a party for that birthday, Hemmeter said his biggest trial was dealing with corrupt politicians in New Orleans.
Hemmeter -- who developed King's Alley and the twin-tower Hyatt Regency Waikiki, as well as luxury resorts such as the Hyatt Regency Waikoloa on the Big Island, now the Hilton Waikoloa Village, and the Westin Maui -- said in an interview that he was upset about the way Louisiana reporters picked on him over his grand plan for a $1 billion casino in New Orleans.
The bottom line to Hemmeter is that while the casino plan failed, it also put Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards in federal prison a year ago, to serve a 10-year term for extortion.
And Hemmeter said the luxury resorts he built in Hawaii made real money for him and his family and are now doing well again, despite setbacks under mostly Japanese owners following the burst of the late 1980s Japanese investment bubble.
Hemmeter sold those resorts at big profits, but when he stepped into the murky waters of Mississippi politics he ran aground, leading to the filing of personal bankruptcy by Hemmeter and his wife Patsy in 1997.
It began with the award to the Hemmeter group 10 years ago of a lease for a property designated to house the city's first land-based casino. The 60-year ground lease, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, was awarded because "we had the best plan," Hemmeter said.
Enter Edwards, a keen gambler and, according to Hemmeter and other critics, a corrupt politician. Edwards wanted a piece of the action for himself and his cronies and relatives, Hemmeter said. "He let me know in no uncertain terms that he expected his boys cut in on the deal. We said, no way we could do business like that," Hemmeter said. That's when the rot set in, ending with Edwards ignoring the law that said the land owner, in this case Hemmeter's company, would choose the gaming operator and simply telling Hemmeter that his choice of Caesar's as an operator was not going to be approved.
In the end, Edwards forced through a deal with three companies sharing the business, leaving Hemmeter with about a third of it.
"I ended up as a minority investor and watched my investment go down, down, down," Hemmeter said.
Hemmeter, who had kept his Hawaii developments as individual entities, ended up breaking that rule in New Orleans and consolidating several of his companies and pledging several multimillion-dollar homes as collateral for loans. The first casino, on a temporary location intended to get the business started while a new one was built, closed a few months after it opened in 1995, with Edwards' pick Harrah's going bankrupt and bond-holders unable to recover the $400 million they had invested.
That was about the end of the saga, except for the corruption and extortion federal case against Edwards.
During the selection process, Hemmeter paid for Edwards and other Louisiana officials to make luxury trips to Hawaii.
Hemmeter maintains that was all part of the shakedown and said he was vindicated when it was revealed that federal investigators had bugged his phones for 2 1/2 years and in "tens of hours" of tapes and they were unable to show one incident in which Hemmeter did anything wrong. The experience certainly soured him on the location. "I've never set foot in New Orleans, even to change planes, since 1995," he said.
For now, Hemmeter is looking after his health. He hopes for a liver transplant in the next month or so. He and his family have embarked on a new business, a Western-style restaurant called Saddle Ranch Chop House. The first unit is up and running next to the Universal Studios theme park in Los Angeles and is doing well, particularly late at night when the mechanical-bull rides, music and bands are in full swing, he said.
"We're doing just under $1 million a month in revenues" and that works out to about $250,000 in profits. Planning for four more restaurants in the next two years, Hemmeter said he hopes for eventual profits of more than $10 million a year and a number of potential buyers are paying attention.
"We should be able to get 10-12 times earnings when we sell," he said. The restaurant business is headed by Hemmeter's oldest son, Mark.
Hemmeter is also working on a golf project on the mainland. He said his family businesses have lined up some 400 pay-for-play golf courses that are interested. The idea is to have a couple of holes at each golf course wired for video with half a dozen cameras at each hole. Golfers can turn it on by dropping a $2 token in a slot and later they can go to a Web site and watch the video along with an analysis of their swings.
There will also be a $10,000 prize for a hole in one and the cameras won't let anyone cheat, he said.
Meanwhile, Chris and Patsy Hemmeter are living in a gated community near Bel Air, outside Los Angeles. Second son Chris graduated from Harvard business school and went into a dot-com business. When that failed, he got into the food and beverage distribution business and started a credit card for restaurants, but he wants to get a doctorate and may end up teaching.
Daughter Katie is doing well as an actress and playwright and makes money buying and selling residential real estate, Hemmeter said.
The Hemmeters had a "reverse surprise birthday party" at the Kahala Avenue home of lingerie multilevel marketing moguls Walter and Tiffany James Wednesday night, with a short but elite list of guests invited for what they thought was going to be a video-conference with Hemmeter speaking from the mainland.
Present were three former governors -- George Ariyoshi, John Waihee and Ben Cayetano -- former Mayor Frank Fasi and an array of other Hemmeter friends representing much of the long-time business leadership in the islands.
Guests were delighted when Walter James, who runs UndercoverWear with his wife, confessed that Chris and Patsy Hemmeter were in the house. Hemmeter was welcomed warmly and he said doctors had told him and Patsy that they should not expect him to be around for a 64th birthday party.
One who was completely taken by surprise was Larry Johnson, former chief executive officer of Bank of Hawaii, who had arrived only half an hour earlier on a flight from New York. Johnson said he hadn't showered but his wife Claire told him not to worry because the video link would not detect any body odor.
Thos Rohr, who headed the group that developed the Waikoloa Resort, said the best thing about Hemmeter was that he started at the bottom, as a trainee with Sheraton Hotels here in the early 1960s, and rose to the top, handling deals with hundreds of millions of dollars in the same gracious way he always acted.
Tim Guard, a longtime Hemmeter friend and president of the stevedoring company McCabe, Hamilton & Renny, called the reunion "an evening of smiles."
www.starbulletin.com/2003/10/10/business/story2.html
~ ~ ~
November 28, 2003
Developer Christopher Hemmeter
dies at age 64
Pacific Business News (Honolulu)
Christopher B. Hemmeter, a prolific developer who built some of Hawaii's most notable hotels and resorts, died Thursday at his Los Angeles home. He was 64.
Eight months ago he was diagnosed with severe liver cancer. He also had been coping with Parkinson's disease. This was his second bout with cancer.
Sharing memories of his father, son Mark Hemmeter told PBN from Los Angeles, "Thanksgiving was his favorite holiday because it was all about just family. Our whole family was with him yesterday, and it was very peaceful."
Hemmeter came to Hawaii in the 1960s and became a noted developer while still in his 20s, along with partners Henry Shigekane and Diane Plotts. Many credit Hemmeter with creating the concept of a destination resort. He moved to the mainland in 1991 and became a casino developer in Colorado and New Orleans. His most recent venture was a successful restaurant near Universal Studios.
Former President Jimmy Carter, Hemmeter's close friend, told PBN for an October profile: "Chris has the uncanny ability to dream ... then put his concepts into practice for the enjoyment of countless others."
"We are extremely saddened by his passing, but we also rejoice as we reflect upon his life," the family said in a statement Friday. "He stood for all that was good in us and gave unselfishly of his time and energy. He will be greatly missed. His affection and caring for others, his charisma, and his professional accomplishments lead many people to pronounce that he was truly 'larger than life.'"
For his accomplishments, Hemmeter has received numerous awards including being named twice as the Businessman of the Year, Salesperson of the Year, Marketing Man of the Year and Islander of the Year in Hawaii. He was inducted into the American Academy of Achievement in 1979. In 1991 Hemmeter was selected the Independent Hotelier of the World.
Hemmeter's activities went beyond the hotel industry. He was the founder and chairman of the Bank of Honolulu, a director of the First Hawaiian Bank, a director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C., a trustee of Punahou School in Honolulu, a member of the Young Presidents Organization, a director of the Carter Center, a director of Morrison Knudsen, a director of Resort Income Investors, and a Trustee Fellow of Cornell University where he received the prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year award granted to Cornell University graduates.
"Hawaii needs to appreciate his contributions to the visitor industry and the state," close Hemmeter friend and retired Bank of Hawaii CEO Larry Johnson told PBN previously. "His legacy will live here forever."
He is survived by his wife of 25 years, Patricia; children Mark and daughter-in-law Lisa, Chris and fiancée Debi, Katie and husband Cully; stepchildren Kelley, Shane, Brendan and wife Brook, and Holli; sister Sally Younge and husband Eric; brother Dr. Mead Hemmeter and wife Mari-Jo; sister-in-law Karen Cook; and six grandchildren, Taylor, Maddy, Annabelle, Austin, Ryan and Quinn.
Private services will be held Sunday in Los Angeles. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the new Christopher B. and Patricia K. Hemmeter Kahaola Hospice Foundation at 1164 Bishop St., Suite 800, Honolulu, HI 96813.
http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2003/11/24/daily58.html
~ ~ ~
October 3, 1997
Bishop legal team
size exaggerated,
lawyer says
McCorriston says rumors
that the estate has hired
several law firms are false
By Mike Yuen, Star-Bulletin
Bishop Estate attorney William McCorriston says Gov. Ben Cayetano was wrong in asserting that the five trustees for the $10 billion charitable trust are improperly using trust funds for legal representation during a state investigation.
Cayetano was also incorrect when he repeated a rumor that the estate was bracing for the inquiry by bolstering its "legal armament" by hiring five to seven law firms, including several from the mainland, McCorriston said yesterday.
There are only two outside lawyers - himself and Malcolm Moore, 60, who is regarded as one of the nation's leading trust law experts, McCorriston said.
The Princeton-and Harvard-educated Moore, a former president of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, is with the Seattle law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine, whose 10 branch offices include Honolulu, San Francisco, Washington and Shanghai.
Responding to Cayetano
McCorriston's rebuttal came less than two hours after Cayetano, in response to reporters' questions, commented on the state's investigation into the estate.
"Unfortunately, the governor was not aware of all the facts before he made a judgment. The fact of the matter is that the trustees, on my advice, have retained individual counsel on matters pertaining to the investigation that could lead to personal liability," said McCorriston, who began representing the estate last month.
The trustees will be paying for their personal counsel - not the estate, said McCorriston.
Trustee Gerard Jervis said his attorney, Ronald Sakamoto, 46, a partner in the Honolulu law firm of Char Sakamoto Ishii Lum & Ching, will represent him.
Jervis said he was confident there will be no finding that he breached his fiduciary responsibilities. "I welcome the inquiries," he said, referring to the investigation headed by state Attorney General Margery Bronster and the fact-finding inquiry by retired state Circuit Judge Patrick Yim.
Trustee Oswald Stender is represented by attorney Crystal Rose, 39, a partner in the Honolulu law firm of Bays Deaver Hiatt Lung & Rose. Rose accompanied Stender when he met with Bronster last month.
Trustees Richard "Dickie" Wong, Henry Peters and Lokelani Lindsey could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Individuals investigated
McCorriston declined to reveal who are the personal attorneys for Wong, Peters and Lindsey. He also declined to say when trustees retained personal attorneys and when the estate hired Moore.
McCorriston said he and Moore are representing the institutional interests of the Bishop Estate, while the trustees have their own lawyers because "it's hard now to ascertain what the attorney general's investigation consists of."
It is when Bronster's investigation becomes more focused that he, Moore and the trustees' personal attorneys will know who has to respond, McCorriston said.
"Until there are specific allegations, it's like shadow boxing," he added.
Cynthia Quinn, Bronster's special assistant, said McCorriston should by now know where the state inquiry is headed. "It's abundantly clear" that Bronster is investigating individual trustees - not the estate, Quinn said.
And if it becomes clear that McCorriston's role, for example, is more in the interest of the trustees than the Bishop Estate, the state will ask the court that trust funds not be used to pay McCorriston, Quinn said.
'Resistance is a mistake'
Cayetano, who had urged reporters to ask estate representatives if they were amassing a large and formidable legal team, did at the same time say, "If I am wrong, I apologize."
But he also asserted that "resistance to us looking into (Bishop Estate) documents is a mistake."
Cayetano added: "If you want to just get this thing over with, it's not hard to separate the interest of the trustees from the estate. If what we want is information which may substantiate that trust money was used to repair someone's home, how is that hurting the estate by giving us that information? In fact, it helps protect the estate from further misuse of money - if, in fact, it was misused."
The "Broken Trust" opinion piece that appeared Aug. 9 in the Star-Bulletin, sparked the state's investigation. One of the questions it raised: Did trustee Lindsey use Bishop Estate workers "to survey her North Shore property, process her permits and supervise the rebuilding of her house"?
Cayetano said even with 1998 an election year, the investigation won't go away.
~ ~ ~
Reporters object to subpoenas
By Gordon Pang, Star-Bulletin
Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate will have to go to court if it wants the notes and documents of three reporters who have written on the estate.
Attorneys for the reporters are objecting to subpoenas served by Bishop Estate two weeks ago.
Paul Alston, who is representing reporters Jim Dooley of KITV News4 and Sally Apgar of the Honolulu Advertiser, yesterday filed formal objections in Circuit Court.
Both he and Corey Park, attorney for Associated Press reporter Bruce Dunford, have sent letters to the estate refusing to release any documents.
Bishop Estate alleges that information obtained by the reporters came from Bobby Harmon, an executive who was fired by the estate.
Harmon, who served as president and chief executive for Bishop subsidiary P&C Insurance Co., was sued by the estate to stop him from releasing information he gathered or learned while still in its employment.
The estate says Harmon stole documents from its offices.
Harmon countersued, claiming wrongful termination.
Alston said the subpoenas served to his clients were improperly issued and violate the First Amendment.
He added that Harmon never claimed to have given reporters anything more than a synopsis of information which he wrote.
Park said it didn't matter even if Harmon had given his client documents that were stolen.
"The press in this case was not a party to any kind of alleged improper activity in obtaining the information."
The estate must now ask a judge to intercede if it wants the documents.
Estate spokeswoman Elisa Yadao would not say if the estate would go to court to seek the documents.
"We are going to do what is appropriate and prudent in our attempts to get the information back," she said.
http://www.starbulletin.com/97/10/03/news/story2.html
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (06-06-08):
June 4, 2008
'Death care' experts running RightStar
By Jim Dooley, Advertiser Staff Writer
A new court-approved management team has been installed to operate the financially stricken RightStar group of cemetery and funeral services companies here.
Circuit Judge Sabrina McKenna, who has overseen the companies since foreclosure proceedings were first filed in 2004, yesterday approved a request from the state attorney general's office and Vestin Mortgage of Las Vegas to appoint a group of experienced "death care" professionals from the Mainland to improve operations and finances at the RightStar companies.
Efforts earlier this year to publicly auction the companies were cancelled after no bidders came forward who were willing to pay the minimum asking price of $25 million set by the state and Vestin.
Vestin financed the 2001 purchase of the RightStar companies by a small group of Mainland buyers and filed foreclosure proceedings against the borrowers in 2004, claiming they defaulted on repayment of more than $35 million in loans.
McKenna yesterday released Guido Giacometti, who served as court-appointed receiver at RightStar since 2004, and approved the appointment of retired Circuit Judge Marie Milks as "commissioner" overseeing RightStar operations.
'PRE-NEED' PLANS
The new management group is headed by Dusan "Duke" Radovich, a cemetery and funeral services company operator based in Kansas City, Mo.
Radovich yesterday acknowledged offering to buy the RightStar companies several years ago but said he did not offer an auction bid this year because he felt the $25 million minimum asking price was too high.
He said the first order of business for the new management team will be to finally submit audited statements of RightStar's finances to state regulators.
A heavily redacted copy of the new team's management plan was filed with McKenna, but large portions of the version of the plan available to the public have been removed to "protect sensitive business information," according to papers filed by the office of Attorney General Mark Bennett and Vestin Mortgage. Those parties originally tried to file the entire plan under seal but McKenna ordered sections of it available to the public.
The RightStar companies are the largest operators of cemeteries and funerals in Hawai'i, with nearly 50,000 customers statewide holding "pre-need" contracts for services to be provided when loved ones die.
RightStar owns Valley of the Temples and Diamond Head Mortuary on O'ahu, Maui Memorial Park, and Homelani and Kona Memorial Parks on the Big Island. RightStar also owns several companies that sell and administer "pre-need" funeral plans, including 50th State Funeral Plan.
The state consistently has said that all outstanding RightStar pre-need contracts will be honored.
LAWS TAKE HEAT
One portion of the business plan open to the public says the new management "intends to aggressively market funeral, cemetery and cremation arrangements on a pre-need basis."
A leading national funeral services consumer group, the Funeral Consumers Alliance, has been harshly critical of Hawai'i laws governing operation of such pre-need plans, saying they are among the most lax in the country.
Efforts by the FCA and others to reform the laws have repeatedly failed to win support of state officials and legislators.
Bennett's office has filed civil lawsuits against the former operators of RightStar, alleging that they fraudulently removed between $20 million and $30 million from company trust funds between 2002 to 2004. Those suits are still pending.
Only one criminal charge has been lodged in the case, against former RightStar President John Dooley. He was indicted in late 2006 on a theft charge and was recently arrested in Oregon and returned to Hawai'i to face trial.
Dooley, who has previously denied any wrongdoing, is being held on $100,000 bail.
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (04-04-08):
WILLIAM J. CLINTON FOUNDATION
Speech: William J. Clinton’s remarks at the Goldman Sachs & Company 2004 Global Conference
December 3, 2004
New York, NY
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Hank, for that wonderful introduction. I probably should quit while I’m ahead. [LAUGHTER] And thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for the warm welcome.
I admire Hank Paulson very much for many things. His interest in Asia and our long-term relationship with the Asian Pacific community and particularly his leadership of the Nature Conservancy, some of you may not be familiar with it, but it is the principal private organization facilitating the preservation of precious natural land in the United States, and increasingly, in other places on the globe. I don’t think I ever told Hank this. But when I was the Governor of Arkansas, we used the Nature Conservancy more than any other State in the country.
I also want thank the people at Goldman Sachs, many of whom have contributed to the work of my Foundation, and the work we do around the world to try to fight AIDS and extend economic opportunity, to promote education and citizen service and to try to bridge the racial and religious divides that still bedevil the world. And I want thank Goldman Sachs for hiring at least a dozen people, who worked in the White House and other places in the administration. I was worried about what all those young people were going to do when we left office. [LAUGHS] So I am deeply in your debt....
www.kycbs.net/Clinton-Speech-2004-Global-Conference.htm
See also:
http://starbulletin.com/1999/09/23/news/index.html
www.kycbs.net/GoldmanSachs.htm
www.kycbs.net/MaunawiliValley.htm
www.kycbs.net/NatureConservancy.htm
www.kycbs.net/Nature-Conservancy-Hawaii.htm
www.kycbs.net/Peregrine-Fund.htm
www.kycbs.net/Peregrine-Gallery.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Paulson-Henry.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Rubin-Robert.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Peters-Henry.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Chang-Kevin.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Jervis-Gerard.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Clinton-Bill.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Clinton-Hillary.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Mailer-Dee-Jay.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Kurren-Faye.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Alston-Paul.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Fuqua-Judith.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Apoliona-Haunani.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Dunn-Greg.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Arrigo-Sue.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Lingle-Linda.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Crowe-William.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Kissinger-Henry.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Farmer-David.htm
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (03-19-08):
March 19, 2008
RightStar auction fails to draw
a qualified bid
By Jim Dooley, Honolulu Advertiser
A sales auction of the debt-ridden RightStar group of cemetery and funeral home companies did not produce a single qualified bid, but the companies' financial health is improving and they will be re-auctioned, a state judge was told yesterday.
All 50,000 customers holding funeral and/or burial service contracts with the companies will have their contracts honored, various attorneys involved in the RightStar foreclosure case told Circuit Judge Sabrina McKenna in a briefing on the status of the case.
RightStar, a start-up company incorporated in Nevada, purchased Valley of the Temples Memorial Park on O'ahu, Homelani and Kona Memorial Parks on the Big Island and Maui Memorial Park in 2001.
The previous owner was in bankruptcy proceedings in Delaware.
RightStar also purchased numerous Hawai'i pre-need funeral plan providers, including 50th State Funeral Plan.
Las Vegas-based Vestin Mortgage, RightStar's principal lender, filed a mortgage foreclosure suit here in 2004, alleging it was owed more than $36 million. McKenna appointed Guido Giacometti as receiver to run the companies while the foreclosure suit is pending.
Giacometti's attorney, Diane Hastert, yesterday balked at briefing McKenna in open court about the results of the RightStar auction and asked to submit the information to the judge under seal.
McKenna, however, ordered some information to be placed on the record, saying, "I do consider this a public matter and the public needs to be informed about what's going on."
Hastert then told the judge that two "non-conforming bids" from qualified buyers were received by the Feb. 29 auction deadline.
It's believed that the bids were less than the $25 million minimum price set last year by the state attorney general's office and Vestin.
Deputy Attorney General C. Bryan Fitzgerald told McKenna that a third bid was also received but it was "unacceptable."
He indicated that the third bidder offered more money but could not have received a state license to operate a funeral home or cemetery.
"The amount was correct but the bidder was not license-able," Fitzgerald said.
A new sales auction may be scheduled or sales conditions may be amended, McKenna was told.
Fitzgerald said that Giacometti has "dramatically improved" the financial condition of RightStar.
"I'm not discouraged," McKenna told various attorneys involved in the long-running case.
She said she was pleased to hear that an "interim business management team" is being brought in to "improve the market value" of the companies.
The state is pursuing other litigation against the former owners of RightStar, alleging that they fraudulently removed some $20 million the company held in trust for the benefit of RightStar customers.
That suit alleges that four trustees responsible for protecting the funds, including former Gov. John Waihee, should have stopped the improper removal of funds.
The former RightStar owners and former trustees have denied wrongdoing.
Former RightStar executive John Dooley was indicted on a theft charge in December 2006, but authorities have been unable to locate him.
Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERIES (02-04-08): Re: FURTHER EVIDENCE OF UNDISCLOSED, CONFLICTING PROFESSIONAL AND FINANCIAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TRUSTEE DAVID C. FARMER AND WITNESSES, FORMER GOVERNOR JOHN WAIHEE, GERARD JERVIS, NATHAN AIPA, AND BRUCE GRAHAM, ESQ, OF THE LAW FIRM OF ASHFORD & WRISTON:
http://www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-Adler-Aipa-3-15-95.pdf
http://www.kycbs.net/EQ-Adler-Cartwright-4-14-95.pdf
http://starbulletin.com/2007/08/09/editorial/special.html
http://www.actec.org/private/freeform/page.asp?PageID=614
* * *
HEY, LOOK ! ! !
TAKE A GOOD GANDER AT GOV. JOHN WAIHEE IN...
THE PHOTO GALLERY
* * *
August 27, 2005
Reservation for a Broken Trust?
Special from Hawaii Free Press
By Andrew Walden
The Aug. 25, 2005, announcement of an agreement between Gov. Linda Lingle and the Bush administration’s Department of Justice on four amendments to the Akaka Bill (S147) increases the chances of the Bill’s passage in the U.S. Senate and the House. Since no court in the history of the United States has ever overturned Congressional approval of a tribal group, there is cause to look ahead at the possible forms a Hawaiian "tribal" government could take.
U.S. history has precedent for two types of native organizations: Indian reservations and Alaskan native corporations. Alaskan native corporations are for-profit corporations owned and operated by the members of native Alaskan tribes as stockholders. Each member is an equal shareholder. They are subject to most of U.S. corporate law, but are able to protect the tribal benefits from race-discrimination lawsuit claims by providing benefits on the basis of tribal membership rather than race -- even when the two are indistinguishable.
Alaskan natives have been able to enjoy the profits coming from their corporate assets, thus increasing their economic status. Indian Reservations, on the other hand, operate often as a power unto themselves without state oversight and with very limited federal oversight. For that reason, poverty and corruption are the norm on many U.S. Indian reservations.
Contrary to popular opinion, Indian reservations have a history in Hawaii. An Oct. 12, 1999, article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin describes the efforts of Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate (KSBE) trustees in 1995 to evade oversight of their corrupt doings. The Trustees’ self-serving investments caused losses of $264,090,257 in 1994 alone. To avoid scrutiny, they considered moving KSBE corporate headquarters out of Hawaii to the windswept plains of the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian reservation in South Dakota (See http://www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-Adler-Aipa-3-15-95.pdf and http://www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-Adler-Cartwright-4-14-95.pdf )
In an apparent attempt to circumvent state and federal oversight, the Bishop Estate paid Washington D.C.-based (law firm) Verner Liipfert Bernhard McPherson and Hand more than $200,000 to look into moving the estate's legal domicile, or corporate address, to the mainland, sources said.
Verner Liipfert, whose local office is headed by former Gov. John Waihee, identified the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation as the top relocation prospect after reviewing the legislative, tax and judicial environments of 48 mainland states and Alaska.
The study was part of a broader effort by the former board members to lobby against federal legislation limiting trustee compensation and to convert the tax-exempt Bishop Estate to a for-profit corporation.
The KSBE trustees’ efforts are also described in "The Cheating of America" by Charles Lewis and Bill Allison of The Center for Public Integrity. They quote former Hawaii Attorney General Margery Bronster explaining KSBE’s actions: "Their main motivation was to avoid oversight from the State Attorney General and the IRS."
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin further points out:
Gregg Bourland, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribal council … said there is good reason for an entity like the Bishop Estate to make inquiries about changing its domicile to the South Dakota reservation ...
Since the 1800s, the Cheyenne River Sioux have had a government-to-government relationship with the United States which allows them to operate their own police force, court system and legislative functions.
Such a system may shield the trust from Hawaii Probate Court jurisdiction, although Bourland was unsure if the IRS would continue to oversee the trust.
Such a move would have also shielded Bishop Estate from the investigations that state Attorney General Margery Bronster was forced to launch as "Broken Trust" revelations emerged in the press. According to Lewis and Allison the activities Bishop Estate trustees were attempting to shield included:
Giving themselves significant pay raises, even while programs at the school were being cut;
Moving profits from the estate’s taxable subsidiaries back into the (non-profit) estate to lessen the subsidiaries’ tax burdens;
Investing in questionable ventures recommended by a trustee’s personal acquaintances, including an Internet directory of would-be-adult-film actors and casting agents;
Frequenting adult entertainment clubs and casinos using money from the charitable trust’s coffers, reportedly inviting state legislators on such trips; and
Lobbying Congress to defeat or alter legislation designed to give the IRS more authority to penalize their multi-million dollar compensation packages.
As U.S. District Judge Samuel King told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin:
"It's another indication of how arrogant, greedy and insensitive this whole bunch is ... Their claim that they are supporting Princess Pauahi's will is laughable."
While looking into a move to the Cheyenne River Reservation, KSBE trustees paid $900,000 for Verner, Liipfert to lobby Washington against the 1996 "Intermediate Sanctions Act" which, as Lewis and Allison explain:
...(would impose) an excise tax on "insiders" at non-profit organizations who partake in "excessive benefit transactions" --exactly the sort of transactions that the Bishop Estate trustees were involved in for years.
Among those enlisted by the Bishop Estate was former Hawaii governor John Waihee, who after leaving the gubernatorial mansion joined Verner, Liipfert. Waihee met with Clinton’s then deputy chief of staff, Erskine Bowles, in late 1995 to discuss the bill; he and his wife have also spent the night at the White House as a guest of the President (Clinton). Waihee’s partner at Verner Liipfert, former Senate majority leader George Mitchell, also contacted Clinton’s then chief of staff, Leon Panetta, about the bill.
The Akaka Bill is justified by its supporters as necessary for the defense of public and private native Hawaiian entitlement programs set up beginning with the 1884 founding of the Bishop Estate, continuing with the 1920 Hawaiian Homelands Act and the 1978 creation of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
These programs are thrown into question by what Hawaiian leaders refer to as "the lawsuits" -- starting with Rice v. Cayetano. The Feb. 23, 2000, U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Rice v Cayetano case ended Hawaiian-only elections for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA). Rice’s attorney at the time of filing in 1996 was John Goemans, a former Hawaii Democratic state legislator who describes himself as a "left wing liberal" in an Oct. 27, 2003, interview with The Honolulu Advertiser. Representing the state of Hawaii before the U.S. Supreme Court was John Roberts. Roberts is now President Bush’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court.
But these were not the only attacks on Hawaiian entitlements in the 1990s. In fact what Hawaiian leaders refer to as "the lawsuits" began almost exactly at the same time as the Broken Trust scandal revelations emerged. Lokelani Lindsey, the last of the five "Broken Trust" Bishop Estate trustees, was forced to resign Dec. 16, 1999. A few months later, in 2000, the first version of the bill that bears his name was introduced by Sen. Daniel Akaka.
Passage of the Akaka Bill would open up debate and negotiations on the form and scope of a new Hawaiian government. This could bring lobbying for an Indian Reservation by those political forces wishing to restart their looting of Princess Bernice Pauahi’s legacy.
The corrupt forces who believe in moderation to avoid detection may favor the Alaskan Native Corporation model. To understand the danger posed by adoption of the Indian Reservation model, consider this: over 100 Hawaii Democrat politicians (and one Republican) have been charged, convicted and sentenced for campaign spending violations and other illegal political schemes since 1997.
Current OHA trustees include OHA Vice President, John Waihee IV, son of former governor John Waihee III.
Another current OHA trustee is Oswald Stender who resigned as a Bishop Estate trustee in 1999. Singled out for praise by the five authors of the key "Broken Trust" Honolulu Star-Bulletin article, Stender nonetheless was one of the five trustees whose high pay forced the IRS to threaten to revoke non-profit status for KSBE.
OHA Chief Counsel, Robert Klein was an associate justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court until he resigned on Feb. 1, 2000. He authored the PASH decision in 1995 which includes the statement, "western understandings of property law … are not universally applicable in Hawaii." An editorial in the Jan. 19, 2000, Honolulu Star-Bulletin explains:
Klein’s most notable act as a Supreme Court justice may have been his authorship of a decision allowing native Hawaiians to go onto private property to engage in traditional religious, cultural and gathering practices ...
Klein disagreed with the decision by the other four justices in December 1997 to withdraw from the role of appointing trustees for the Bishop Estate, calling it an "uncharted leap of blind faith."
Klein admits giving "recommendations" for Kamehameha School admission while serving on the Supreme Court bench. As an April 3, 2001, Honolulu Star-Bulletin article explains:
'''In sworn testimony, the (Bishop) estate's admissions director, Wayne Chang, said that former (Bishop Estate) trustee Lokelani Lindsey ordered him to admit the child only after she received a request from then-state Supreme Court Associate Justice Robert Klein ..."
Chang -- in a Aug. 11, 1998, deposition taken in preparation for the trial to oust Lindsey -- said ex-board members Lindsey, Gerard Jervis and Henry Peters and senior school officials pulled strings for friends and relatives of several politically connected isle families, including:
A distant relative of ex-Gov. John Waihee.
A relative of Big Island rancher Larry Mehau.
Former state Sen. Milton Holt's sons.
The former trustees denied that they influenced the admission process. However, investigations by the Internal Revenue Service, the Attorney General's Office and the estate's internal auditors concluded that trust officials improperly influenced the Kamehameha Schools' admissions and financial aid awards.
Lindsey declined comment, but Klein confirmed that he spoke with the former trustee after the child's mother, a longtime friend, asked him to put in a good word. Klein said he saw no conflict in the request and added that school administrators were welcome to ignore his recommendation.
"The fact of the matter is, judges recommend children and people for jobs (and schools) all the time, whether it's Punahou Schools or Kamehameha Schools," said Klein, who is now in private practice. "That's what judges do. That's what people do in this community ..."
Those kind of "doings" would be facilitated by lack of state and federal legal oversight -- such as on an Indian reservation. Recent debate over the support for ANWR drilling by Hawaii Senators Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye is a further reflection of opposition to the Alaskan Native Corporations (ANCs). In an April 20, 2005, article published in Honolulu Weekly and later in the Hawaii Island Journal, Lance Holter, the Maui Group Chairman and Conservation Chair for the Hawaii Sierra Club, condemns as "corporate" those ANCs which dare to support oil drilling on their own lands:
[Inouye] speaks about these 229 tribes, which are really corporate entities. They are not tribal governments; they are not representative of the tribe.
Robin and Jade Danner are leaders of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CANH). Native Hawaiians who lived for many years in Barrow, Alaska before their return to Kauai, the Danner sisters have extensive experience with ANCs. They might reasonably be expected to champion the formation of one or more Hawaiian Native Corporations modeled on the Alaskan natives’ experience. Opposing the Danners publicly, are the secessionists calling for reestablishment of an independent Hawaii. A key series of 2003 articles attacking the Danners are authored by Anne Keala Kelly and reproduced on several secessionist Web sites. They are attacked for working with "corporate" ANCs and oil lobbyists in support of ANWR drilling. Kelly, a supporter of independence, spoke in Honolulu at an Aug. 23, 2005, Akaka Bill forum held in the Japanese Cultural Center.
Some Indian reservations (including Cheyenne River) have their own judiciary, legislature, and executive branches of government. The secessionists’ rhetoric could lead them to prefer these "sovereign" trappings. They claim the Akaka process represents a surrender of sovereignty on the part of the Hawaiian people. This sly choice of argument against Akaka will create a justification for participation in the Akaka process once that sovereignty has been "surrendered."
The "Nation of Hawaii" group led by convicted felon Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele (who was pardoned by former Gov. Benjamin Cayetano) seems to be preparing for integration into the "official" Hawaiian institutions. One sign of this are the December 2004 speeches given by Kanahele’s attorney Francis Boyle in a series of "Nation of Hawaii" meetings across the state. The events were funded by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Boyle is a University of Illinois law professor who also works for the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Bosnian Government, and Chechen forces led by the recently departed Aslan Maskhadov. Notably, Boyle has also represented the Lakota Nation of the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation. At a 1998 UH Hilo meeting, Boyle spoke alongside a Lakota representative to Hawaiian sovereignty activists discussing "human rights, land titles and the Hawaiian Kingdom."
In his December 2004 speeches, Boyle advised the assembled crowds: "what we really need now is a government of national unity for the Kingdom of Hawaii. We need all the disparate groups and factions to come together and settle ... this was the situation that confronted the Palestinians 35 years ago. There were many different groups, and organizations, and factions. And yet eventually the late president Arafat and his organization Fatah were able to pull them all together, and by the process of consensus and debate and argument and set up a government."
The demented idea that the West Bank and Gaza show a way forward for the Hawaiian people is so distracting that it may prevent readers from noting what underlies: an implied appeal for independence activists to involve themselves in OHA and other official Hawaiian bodies. The array of social programs administered by OHA, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and the private trusts such a KSBE are certainly the closest thing to an Hawaiian "government of national unity" existing today.
With its own judiciary, legislature and executive branch and government-to-government relations with the U.S. government, the Indian reservation model provided by the Cheyenne River Sioux creates enough of an illusion of independence that they could justify it to their supporters. If the Akaka Bill passes, Hawaii can look forward to an effort on the part of the "sovereignty" activists and the corrupt to push this model.
Anyone following the stories of Enron, WorldCom, Martha Stewart, and other corporate disasters in the recent news knows that organizing as a corporation does not guarantee clean operations. But the corporate model does allow oversight by the state Attorney General, the IRS and other public agencies. This type of oversight brought these scandals to light and brought some malefactors to justice. This same oversight brought the Broken Trust trustees of KSBE and some of their cronies to heel, if only for them to then scatter and form new schemes. The Alaskan Native Corporation model maximizes the protection given Hawaiian beneficiaries and the body politic of Hawaii by increasing the enforcement power necessary to expose and prosecute corrupt activities.
Hnolulu Star-Bulletin on Akaka Amendments:
http://starbulletin.com/2005/08/24/news/index5.html
Recognition of Tribes:
http://www.tribalnation.com/RescindStatus.html
PASH Decision: PASH decision KSBE activities:
http://www.the-catbird-seat.net/Bishop.htm
(Note: This website was closed down by Order of Judge David Ezra at the request of the United States Department of Justice. It can now be found at http://www.kycbs.net/Bishop.htm. See http://www.kycbs.net/Confessions.htm for more information.)
Honolulu Star-Bulletin "Broken Trust" archive:
http://starbulletin.com/specials/bishop.html
Articles attacking the Danners:
http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/AkakaAlaskaKelly.html
Boyle’s PLO Speech:
http://hawaii-nation.org/boyle-transcript-2004.html
Andrew Walden is the publisher and editor of Hawaii Free Press, a Big Island-based newspaper. He can be reached via email at mailto:andrewwalden@email.com
HawaiiReporter.com reports the real news, and prints all editorials submitted, even if they do not represent the viewpoint of the editors, as long as they are written clearly. Send editorials to mailto:Malia@HawaiiReporter.com
www.kycbs.net/Reservation-Broken-Trust-Walden-8-27-5.mht
~ ~ ~
New Discovery (12-01-07): Re: WITNESS JOHN WAIHEE, IV:
John Waihee, IV, OHA trustee and son of former Governor John Waihee, III, is arrested in May, 2007, for DUI, but the arrest is not reported for six months. If this arrest of one of my named witness had been reported in the news media at the time it happened, as is normally done, this NEW material evidence could have been submitted in my earlier Requests for Reconsideration of the Appointment of David C. Farmer as Successor Trustee in this case.
New Discovery (11-17-07): Re: EQUITY No. 2048 - EXHIBITS RE DEPOSITIONS OF MARION MAE LINDSEY:
These documents, consisting of hundreds of pages, provide clear and material evidence of the many financial, professional, and political relationships between David Farmer, Bruce Graham and the Ashford & Wriston law firm, with the former and interim Trustees of Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate, Nathan Aipa, Governor John Waihee, and others. These Exhibits can be found on the internet at the Broken Trust Book website, under the heading, “Lindsey Deposition (3 volumes)”:
http://www.brokentrustbook.com/sources.html#depositions
~ ~ ~
July 3, 2005
Cemetery operator faces criminal probe
'Wall' keeps criminal, civil probes separate
By Jim Dooley, Advertiser Staff Writer
The state Attorney General's office is conducting a criminal investigation of the purchase and operation of the RightStar group of funeral and cemetery companies in Hawai'i, according to state officials and private attorneys familiar with the investigation.
The criminal probe is separate from a civil lawsuit filed last year by the Attorney General's office that accuses RightStar officials and four local lawyers, including former Gov. John Waihee, of mismanaging more than $20 million in RightStar funds held in trust for thousands of Hawai'i customers who purchased "pre-need" funeral services and cemetery plots.
RightStar owns and operates four cemeteries: Valley of the Temples on O'ahu, Maui Memorial Park on the Valley Isle, and Homelani and Kona Memorial Parks on the Big Island.
The company purchased the cemeteries and related mortuary and funeral plan trust assets in 2001, and the state licensed RightStar to operate them in November 2001.
William McCorriston, attorney for Waihee and the other three lawyers who acted as trustees of the RightStar customers' trust funds, said he does not believe his clients are targets of the criminal investigation.
"We have informed the Attorney General of irregularities and delinquencies which had concerned us," McCorriston said. "We believe our information was the genesis of their investigation."
Waihee could not be reached for comment.
Attorneys for RightStar officials and Vestin Mortgage Inc., a Las Vegas-based lender that financed RightStar's purchase of the companies and filed a mortgage foreclosure lawsuit against RightStar for failure to repay $34 million in loans, said their clients have done nothing wrong. They said company officials are cooperating in the criminal and civil probes conducted by the Attorney General.
State Attorney General Mark Bennett and Deputy Attorney General Lawrence Goya confirmed the criminal investigation but would not elaborate on details of the case.
Legal quagmire
RightStar's financial problems have spawned a welter of lawsuits in state and federal court here, and involved the companies and its officials in at least one other ongoing criminal investigation, according to court records.
Most of the civil cases center on how the companies and trustees managed trust-fund assets.
The trust funds contain money from cemetery plot and funeral plan buyers that is supposed to be held in trust for the customers until they die. The funds also contain money set aside for "perpetual care" of the cemeteries.
According to state figures, the value of the trust funds stood at $63.2 million when RightStar took control of them. A year later, the value dropped to $40 million.
The foreclosure lawsuit filed by Vestin Mortgage claims that RightStar defaulted on loans that were used to purchase the companies. A state judge handling that case has appointed an independent receiver, Guido Giacometti, to run the cemeteries and funeral businesses and protect the rights of customers while the competing claims from numerous parties are sorted out.
In his two most recent monthly reports filed with the court, Giacometti said the companies have a "critical need" for additional money and are attempting to develop new cemetery plots and sell new funeral plans to increase cash flow.
"We're doing OK — sales volumes are relatively consistent," Giacometti said. "We'd like them to be higher but we inherited a company that had not reinvested in itself. There are a limited number of cemetery plots available, so we're working toward development of future areas."
Consumers caught
Local resident John Quinores bought four burial plots for himself and his family at Valley of the Temples in the 1960s and said he's worried about his investment. After agreeing to buy the cemetery plots, Quinores later supplemented that purchase with "pre-need" plans designed to provide funeral services when he dies.
"I'm still paying," Quinores said. "I called the company a couple of months ago with some questions but the lady that answered was vague and defensive."
Giacometti said he has made customer service a top priority and also is dealing with a variety of other pressing issues, including satisfying a dozen consumer complaints filed with the state Regulated Industries Complaints Office. Also unresolved are numerous other complaints about RightStar's decision last year to sell burial plots and funeral services contracts at a discount to a company called Alternative Debt Portfolios.
That sale was an effort by previous RightStar management to raise funds, Giacometti said.
"About 2,100 cemetery plot contracts were sold, but some of the contracts had already been paid in full and should not have been included in the deal," Giacometti said. "There are also some questions about who is responsible for the funeral services that are included in some of the other contracts."
Giacometti said he's cooperating in state and federal tax investigations of RightStar as well as a separate FBI investigation of Funding Solutions Inc., a company in Stamford, Conn., to which RightStar turned for financial assistance in 2004.
RightStar "made a $250,000 payment to them in return for a loan commitment, but then never got the loan," Giacometti said.
When Giacometti asked the company for a refund, "we ran right into an FBI investigation," he said. "They are investigating Funding Solutions and principals of the company and we are cooperating in that investigation."
According to federal court records, Funding Solutions executives Leonard Kalish and Joel Pondelik were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney's office in New York City in January.
A call to the company for comment was returned by Kalish's New York attorney, Martin Adelman, who said only that Kalish "will answer any and all official inquiries (about RightStar) when they are made."
A right to foreclose
Hawai'i Circuit Judge Sabrina McKenna ruled last month and again Friday that Vestin had the right to foreclose on RightStar, with the companies to be sold "to a licensed and qualified buyer" who would protect "the interests of consumers."
Attorney Grant Kidani, attorney for Alternative Debt Portfolios, had asked McKenna to delay foreclosure proceedings for 120 days, arguing that documents filed in another RightStar-related lawsuit, now pending in federal court here, showed both Vestin and RightStar had "unclean hands." Their relationship should be examined more closely before foreclosure takes place, he said.
The other federal court suit, first filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware and now pending before Hawai'i Federal Judge Helen Gillmor, alleges that Waihee and three other local attorneys who acted as RightStar funeral plan trustees were part of a fraudulent conspiracy to "strip the assets" of RightStar.
The suit was filed against RightStar by Alderwoods (Hawai'i) Inc., which purchased the assets of the cemetery and mortuary business in a Delaware bankruptcy court sale and then resold it to RightStar in 2001.
Charges in the suit are based in part on allegations from David Jackson, a former financial controller of RightStar Hawaii Management, who charged that Waihee used his "political influence" to smooth the company's dealings with state regulators.
McCorriston, Waihee's attorney, said Jackson's allegations "are part of an effort to besmirch Waihee's and the other trustees' reputations. RightStar has gone belly-up, so instead they're pointing their guns at the trustees."
Candace Ito, executive officer of the state Cemetery and Funeral Trusts Program, also denied Jackson's allegations, saying that "RightStar did not receive any special treatment" from the state.
RightStar President John Dooley said Waihee "did nothing improper while representing the company in the licensing process. He used his abilities to assist a private business attain licensing in the state of Hawai'i in much the same way that other former governors have assisted businesses in the past."
RightStar attorney James Wagner added, "Jackson is a disgruntled former employee who was fired for incompetence."
Attempts to reach attorneys for Jackson and Alderwoods were unsuccessful.
Transfers questioned
The state has charged in its civil suit against RightStar that the company and the former trustees improperly removed about $20 million in trust fund assets in 2002, transferring the money to RightStar's operational accounts. The state said the transfers should only have been made after a full accounting of the finances of the cemeteries and trust funds had been completed and filed with the state. Such financial statements have yet to be filed by RightStar, according to court records.
The Attorney General's suit also charged that the trustees removed another $20 million in trust fund assets and improperly invested the money in a Nevada real estate venture called Vestin Fund II. That fund is managed by Vestin Mortgage, the same company that financed RightStar's purchase of the cemeteries and trust funds in the first place.
An independent expert, John Candon, has been appointed by the court in the Attorney General's civil lawsuit to examine the finances and activities of RightStar and the trust funds and to make sure the money is properly accounted for and protected.
Last year, the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission revealed that it was investigating Vestin Fund II. Vestin called the SEC probe an "informal inquiry" that appears to focus on its financial reporting to the SEC.
Vestin attorney Paul Alston said the investment has yielded a return of 9 percent interest per year and is probably one of the best investments the trustees made."
And Alston said at least some of the blame for RightStar's problems belongs with the state. "It appears that the trusts were mishandled under the state's proverbial nose, and it is only because of Vestin's complaints ... that the state has stirred to action," Alston said in a letter to Judge McKenna.
In late May, state Deputy Attorney General James Paige said in a letter to Judge McKenna that the state had attempted unsuccessfully to recover $20 million in RightStar trust money from Vestin Fund II.
Under the terms of the investment, Paige said, the fund can give back no more than 10 percent of an investment per year. At that rate, the consumer trust funds that the state wants back will not be fully recovered "until approximately the year 2015," Paige wrote.
Class-action suit filed
Last week, a class-action lawsuit was added to the legal woes besetting RightStar. One plaintiff in the suit, Yahnina Hackney, repeated claims reported earlier by The Advertiser that RightStar improperly canceled her stepmother's funeral services contract after the elderly woman became sick and failed to make monthly payments to the company.
The company said in response that the cancellation was made by previous owners of the company and some of the disputed funds are still being held in trust.
Hackney said when her stepmother died, there was no money to pay for her burial. "I had to ask the state to do it," she said. "It was very sad. She was cremated. She didn't want that. I have her ashes at home."
She said she "would like to see everybody wake up and take a look at this issue. It's very important and it's something we all will have to face."
Reach Jim Dooley at 535-2447 or jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.
For more, GO TO > > > Vampires in the Cemetery
~ ~ ~
December 19, 1997
Abolish system of
‘lead trustees’ now,
Bronster says
Judge Patrick Yim's
Fact Finder's report now online.
Star-Bulletin Staff
State Attorney General Margery Bronster says she could seek a court order to abolish Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate's much-maligned "lead trustee" management system.
Bronster yesterday said she plans to study an agreement finalized yesterday by Circuit Judge Colleen Hirai which calls for a review of the lead trustee system only after a management and financial audit of the estate's operations is completed.
The pact -- reached between the estate, the trust's court-appointed master Colbert Matsumoto and the attorney general's office -- represents a step back from a previous agreement to eliminate the system outright, Bronster said.
She agreed with nearly all of the remaining recommendations, which seek to streamline the estate's accounting process and financial reporting requirements.
"The time is now to abolish the practice of the lead trustee," she said. "We think the law is clear."
Bronster and Matsumoto have argued that the system -- which gives individual trustees authority over specific administrative areas -- may violate the will of the estate's founder, Bernice Pauahi Bishop, and may breach the trustees' fiduciary responsibilities since it delegates too much responsibility to one trustee.
William McCorriston, one of the estate's attorneys, disagreed, saying the informal lead trustee system is not for decision-making purposes but largely exists for reporting or oversight purposes.
All policy decisions are made by the whole board and not by individual trustees, he said. McCorriston added that many trusts use a similar system to manage their affairs.
"I don't know if we will ever be able to satisfy the attorney general," McCorriston said. "She doesn't have a good understanding of how the system works."
Under the system, the estate's asset management is handled by trustee Henry Peters and its government affairs programs are headed by Chairman Richard Wong. Trustee Lokelani Lindsey headed estate's educational programs, while Gerard Jervis ran the estate's legal affairs. Oswald Stender was in charge of the trust's Kukui Inc. subsidiary, which represents the estate's interest in a mainland methane gas drilling operation.
For many critics, Lindsey's role as lead trustee for education played a big role in the ongoing controversy. Student and alumni groups say she usurped the duties of popular Kamehameha Schools President Michael Chun and hurt school morale. Court-appointed fact-finder Patrick Yim went further, saying Lindsey managed by intimidation and played favorites.
Lindsey was removed as lead trustee more than a week ago in anticipation of Yim's report. Jervis also has relinquished his duties as lead trustee for legal affairs, according to McCorriston.
Matsumoto initially recommended abolishing the lead trustee system but said he was willing to grant the estate additional time to make the transition.
He said the estate has agreed to have its finances audited by a national accounting firm and that the audit will likely take six months to complete.
Matsumoto said he's confident that the audit of the estate will find that the lead trustee system should be eliminated and that trustees eventually will agree.
Matsumoto also had recommended that the court not approve the estate's accounting for the 1993-1994 fiscal year until the Internal Revenue Service completed its audit of the estate.
But Matsumoto said he now feels that may not be practical since it may be some time before the IRS completes its audit.
Judge Patrick Yim's
Fact Finder's report now online.
http://starbulletin.com/97/12/19/news/satnews.html
~ ~ ~
September 11, 1998
Bronster:
“Sweetheart Deals with Cronies”
"I believe certain trustees received
kickbacks worth hundreds of
thousands of dollars."
--Margery Bronster
The trustees deny the state's
allegations and blame the Cayetano
administration for exploiting
the controversy
~ ~ ~
COMPLETE TEXT:
Attorney General's Petition for Removal
~ ~ ~
By Rick Daysog, Star-Bulletin
Raising the possibility of criminal charges, Attorney General Margery Bronster says Bishop Estate trustees received kickbacks, participated in illegal political campaign contributions and mismanaged Kamehameha Schools.
Yesterday, Bronster filed a 58-page petition in probate court targeting the removal of the estate's majority trustees Henry Peters, Richard Wong and Lokelani Lindsey, saying the three trustees enriched themselves at the expense of the trust's beneficiaries.
Bronster alleged that trustees Peters and Wong received kickbacks from a Hawaii Kai land deal involving Wong's brother-in-law, Jeff Stone.
Lindsey, meanwhile, mismanaged Kamehameha Schools and used trust employees to run personal errands and help renovate her Hauula home, the attorney general alleged.
"I believe certain trustees received kickbacks worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from relatives via elaborate real estate transactions," Bronster said in a letter to Gov. Ben Cayetano, who ordered the investigation more than a year ago.
"Trustees have hired friends, relatives and political allies who have given little or no service to the trust and trustees have also routinely made sweetheart deals with this same assortment of relatives, cronies and other hangers on."
Bishop Estate attorney William McCorriston denied that any breaches of trust have occurred, saying trustees and their individual attorneys look forward to answering the charges in a court of law.
"They are looking forward to having this resolved by judicial resolution in a court of law -- hopefully by a judge who won't be influenced by the electronic lynching by the media or be persuaded by anything except the evidence that will be presented," McCorriston said.
Yesterday's removal petitions also sought surcharges against Peters, Wong and Lindsey, saying the majority trustees offered jobs to friends and relatives. The jobs paid high salaries but offered little services to the estate.
Some of the hirings forced the estate to create unbudgeted positions to accommodate the new hires, the state said. They included:
> Local attorney and Peters' friend, Al Jeremiah Jr., was paid $35,000 to conduct menial and clerical labor in helping to inventory the Baker/Van Dyke collection of Hawaiiana, the state said.
> Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee and Peters' associate, Clayton Hee, was hired by the estate's Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center Inc. subsidiary as a cultural affairs researcher, according to the state.
> State Rep. Terrance Tom, a former colleague of Peters' in the Legislature, has been paid a monthly retainer of $4,000 for negligible legal services, the state said. Tom has denied wrongdoing in the past.
> A company headed by Big Island businessman Larry Mehau is being paid $40,000 a month to provide security services at Kamehameha School's main gate. Mehau is a friend of Wong and Lindsey.
> Peters' former employer, Dura Constructors Inc., received more than $2.7 million in nonbid construction work from the Bishop Estate starting in 1995. Dura renovated Peters' home in Maili.
Renee Yuen, attorney for Peters, denied any wrongdoing by her client, saying the Cayetano administration is exploiting the controversy to boost the governor's "sagging popularity" and deflect attention from the weak economy.
"In the future, this dismantling of the Bishop Estate will be seen as the ultimate robbery of the native people directed by non-Hawaiians," she said.
Bronster, meanwhile, denied that politics is playing a role in her investigation, saying the timing of yesterday's petition is due in large part to delays caused by trustees.
A hearing on the permanent removal petition is scheduled for Oct. 23.
The removal requests come more than a year after the state launched its investigation into allegations of financial mismanagement, breaches of fiduciary duties and manipulations of the student admission process at the estate-run Kamehameha Schools.
Key Figures Named in
the Attorney General’s Petition
66, of Wailuku is a Democrat, the current speaker of the state House. The owner of a real estate company, Souki this summer was questioned by the state attorney general over a Maui land deal involving Bishop Estate that earned him a $132,000 commission. Souki denied any wrongdoing and said it a was a private real estate transaction. He is up for re-election this year, and has reported a $110,000 campaign war chest.
67, is a Democratic state representative from Kau-Puna, Big Island. The hotel industry executive first ran for public office as a Republican, winning a Hawaii County Council seat in 1983. Four years later, then-Gov. John Waihee appointed him to a Senate seat. The attorney general names Herkes as one of the politicians benefiting from trustees' actions aimed at "preserving excessive compensation”. In this Legislature, he opposed legislation to cap trustees' pay.
45, is a trustee and former chairman of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. A Hawaiian culture college instructor, Hee, of Molokai, entered the state House in 1983. He later became a state senator -- where he became good friends with then-Sen. Ben Cayetano -- and served as Senate Judiciary chairman until 1988, when he lost his re-election bid. The attorney general says Hee was among politicians benefiting from trustees' actions aimed at "preserving excessive compensation."
56, is a Democratic state representative from Wailuku. Along with Souki, Tanaka was subpoenaed by the attorney general as part of the inquiry into the Maui land deal involving Bishop Estate. Tanaka earned a $42,000 commission from developer Everett Dowling last year, but said his consulting work did not involve the estate. Instead, Tanaka said he introduced Dowling to Sports Shinko Inc., which originally owned the Maui property.
50, has been a state representative since 1982. He now is running for the state Senate seat for Kahuku-Kaneohe. Tom, who has been blind since birth, has come under fire as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee for his stand on several issues, including same-sex marriage. As a lawyer who gets a retainer of $4,000 a month from Bishop Estate, he was criticized this past session for voting on legislation to cap trustees' pay. He voted against the caps.
59, is a former state budget director who resigned in late 1993 to become Bishop Estate's chief executive for budget and review. He made $163,010 in 1997. As state budget director under Gov. John Waihee, he came under scrutiny from a state Senate special investigative committee for his government purchase practices and investment decisions of the state pension fund.
44, is a state senator representing the Kaneohe-Enchanted Lake district. Ige, a former elementary school teacher, first ran for the state House in 1978 and served until 1994, when he narrowly lost a bid for the state Senate. He was elected to the Senate two years later. The Damien High School graduate received his education degree from the University of Hawaii. He currently serves as co-chairman of the Senate Government Operations and Housing Committee.
45, is a former state senator and current administrative officer for Bishop Estate. In a story earlier this year based on records the estate submitted to the Internal Revenue Service, Holt reported he entertained state legislators at the estate's expense at local restaurants and hostess bars, although several lawmakers denied the meetings took place. From 1992 to 1997, more than $23,000 was charged on the estate's credit cards from Las Vegas casinos and local hostess bars.
HIGHLIGHTS ...
from Bronster's petition
Here are some accusations lodged by the state attorney general's office against Bishop Estate trustees:
Enriching themselves
Trustees Henry Peters, Richard Wong, and Lokelani Lindsey have enriched themselves from the trust at the expense of the beneficiaries:
> Inflated prices (on apartments at 1015 Wilder Ave.) were paid to Peters and Wong as a quid pro quo for conferring financial benefits on Wong's brother-in-law Jeffrey Stone.
The trust wired $500,000 to KDP-Technologies on July 2, 1997.
This investment was made without adequate due diligence and in disregard of an internal staff report. KDP-Tech was managed by principals with no proven business track records, was a highly speculative start up company, and the soft-porn nature of the investment was not suitable for a charitable educational trust.
Within a week of the trust's initial investment of $500,000, KDP-Tech began negotiating a consulting agreement with Wong's brother-in-law Randy Stone.
> KDP-Trust (KDP Ltd., a subsidiary of Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center) continued to advance trust money to KDP-Tech until its treasurer, Lindsey's acquaintance, was indicted for federal mail fraud and money laundering crimes (for which he was subsequently convicted and sentenced).
> 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.
Helping friends
> Peters and Wong concealed from the other trustees Holt's personal charges on the trust credit card and rejected suggestions to confiscate the card.
> Peters was instrumental in the trust entering into a consulting services contract with (friend Al) Jeremiah Jr., initially at $5,000 per month and then at $7,000 per month, without regard to whether any work was performed, with an additional $125 for each hour worked in excess of 40 hours per month.
> Peters was instrumental in the trust, by its subsidiary Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center (RHSC), hiring (friend) Clayton Hee as a cultural affairs researcher with negligible duties.
> Terrance Tom served with Peters in the Hawaii Legislature, and was hired by the trust at a monthly legal retainer of approximately $4,000 for providing negligible, if any, legal services to the trust.
> Peters directed RHSC to hire his cousin, Mona Ryan, as a property manager. Peters directed RHSC to hire a number of his other friends or relatives. "The trust created unbudgeted positions to accommodate these hirings."
> Lindsey directed RHSC to hire her grandson, Hoku Haiku.
> Larry Mehau, a principal shareholder of Hawaii Protective Association (HPA), is a friend of Wong and Lindsey.
In July 1996, the trustees hired the Hawaii Protective Association to provide additional security personnel at the Kamehameha Schools. There was no operational necessity to hire any outside security contractor.
It is more expensive for the trust to use HPA than to use Kamehameha Schools personnel to provide the same security services. It is more expensive for the trust to use HPA than other outside security services, because HPA charges above market rates.
The trustees did not solicit competitive bids for HPA's security services. There is no written contract with HPA.
> Peters is a former employee of Dura Constructors Inc. ("Dura"). Dura renovated Peters' Maile residence.
Beginning in 1995, the trust awarded construction contracts to Dura without competitive bidding and in amounts totaling more than $2.7 million.
Dura received $465,000 for work on the athletic locker room at the Kamehameha Schools. The work was so deficient that the building was unsafe for student use. The trust corrected Dura's work itself rather than pursue Dura for the deficiencies.
> Rhino Roofing also worked on Peters' Maili home renovation. Peters' nephew is the owner of Rhino Roofing.
Beginning in 1995, the trust awarded construction contracts under which Rhino Roofing received more than $1.3 million, customarily without competitive bidding or as the hand-picked roofing subcontractor.
> In 1993, the Lindseys obtained a permit from the Building Department of the City and County of Honolulu ("Building Department") to renovate the house on the property (53-823 Kamehameha Highway). The renovations uncovered structural damage that necessitated additional work beyond the scope of the existing building permit.
Lindsey went forward with the expanded renovation and was cited by the Building Department for violating the existing building permit.
Lindsey obtained a private proposal for $12,000 to obtain the necessary governmental approvals for the expanded renovation to proceed.
Rather than spend $12,000 of her own money, Lindsey used trust employees to obtain a shoreline certification from the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, and to obtain a zoning variance from the City and County of Honolulu.
Personal benefit
The trustees have used trust employees, equipment, supplies and resources for their personal benefit. For example:
> Lindsey has used trust employees to run personal errands for herself and her family members and to install a computer in her Maui and Oahu residences;
> During his 1986, 1988, 1990, and 1992 political campaigns while a trustee, Peters used trust employees to photograph him and his supporters for his campaign materials, in violation of trust restrictions on political activity by the trust and its employees.
http://starbulletin.com/98/09/11/news/story2.html
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September 23, 1999
EX-TRUSTEES
CONSIDERED MOVING
BISHOP ESTATE
They also researched converting
Bishop Estate to a for-
profit corporation
State high court rejects
appeals by Wong, Peters
By Rick Daysog, Star-Bulletin
Ousted trustees of the Bishop Estate paid former Gov. John Waihee's law firm thousand of dollars to see if they could move the $6 billion estate's corporate base outside Hawaii and convert the charitable trust to a for-profit entity, according to court papers filed today.
In what critics say is a brazen attempt to circumvent investigations by the Internal Revenue Service and the state attorney general's office, the former board members also directed its outside law firms to lobby Congress to lower the so-called "exit tax" levied on organizations that give up their tax-exempt status.
The moves would have exposed the trust to tens of millions of dollars in annual income taxes that they do not now pay. It also could have placed the estate and its trustees outside the jurisdiction of the IRS, the state probate court and the attorney general's office.
While one former trustee denied that the idea was seriously considered, critics said that discussion of the issue shows that the former board members were placing their personal interests before those of the trust and were violating the spirit of the will of the 115-year-old estate's founder, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop.
"It's really the ultimate act of arrogance by the (former) trustees," Deputy Attorney General Hugh Jones said.
"The former trustees have turned their backs on the beneficiaries, they've turned their backs on the attorney general and they've turned their backs on the courts. Now they want to turn their backs on the people of Hawaii. It really shows that they want to be accountable to no one but themselves."
The new allegations are detailed in amended lawsuit filed this morning by the Bishop Estate's court-appointed interim board of trustees, who are seeking the permanent removal of former trustees Richard "Dickie" Wong, Henry Peters and Lokelani Lindsey.
The interim trustees -- retired Adm. Robert Kihune, former Iolani School headmaster David Coon, attorney Ronald Libkuman, American Savings Bank executive Constance Lau and retired Honolulu Police Chief Francis Keala -- have alleged that the former trustees jeopardized the estate's tax-exempt status and placed more than $750 million in trust assets at risk by not resigning voluntarily.
Earlier this year, the IRS threatened to revoke the estate's tax-exempt status, saying the former trustees personally benefited from the trust, mismanaged its assets and strayed from the estate's core educational mission.
In their amended complaint, the interim board alleged that the trustees directed their lawyers and consultants to find a way to convert the trust to a for-profit entity and move the estate's domicile, or corporate base, outside of Hawaii.
The moves would have eliminated federal scrutiny over the tax-exempt estate and its five trustees and would have allowed the trustees to increase their focus on the trust's business activities at the expense of the trust's educational responsibilities, the interim board said.
"This effort was a further attempt to preserve excessive compensation at the expense of the trust," the interim board said.
Today's filing did not identify the law firm that conducted that studied the changes but sources close to estate said that most of the work had been conducted by the high-powered Washington D.C. law firm of Verner Liipfert Bernhard McPherson and Hand. Former Gov. Waihee had been a Verner Liipfert partner since 1994.
The interim trustees hinted at Verner Liipfert's involvement when they submitted its list of potential witnesses for the permanent removal trial, which is scheduled to begin on Dec. 13. The court filing listed Waihee and Verner Liipfert staffer Denis Dwyer and said the two would be asked to testify about lobbying and legal work that the Verner Liipfert firm conducted for the trust.
Waihee could not be reached for comment and a spokesman for the law firm had no immediate response.
Peters on Monday acknowledged that the trust had asked Verner Liipfert and the estate's tax consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. to look into converting the trust to a for-profit corporation.
But Peters said the plan -- part of the estate's lobbying efforts on the three-year-old federal intermediate sanctions law that limits trustee pay -- was stopped "in mid-track" since the estate could not avoid paying a hefty exit tax if were to give up its nonprofit status.
Peters said the issue of relocating to the estate's domicile or corporate address was raised last year by Lindsey in her "disgust" over the way the attorney general's office was handling its investigation of the Bishop Estate.
Lindsey was quoted in the June 1998 issue of Honolulu magazine as saying the trustees were considering moving to the mainland because they did not want to be in a place where they were not wanted.
Lindsey could not be reached for immediate comment.
Peters said the idea of moving the estate outside Hawaii was not brought up formally by the board. He added that he was not aware of any work conducted on the subject by Verner Liipfert but noted that previous trustees often discussed the topic prior to his appointment to the estate in 1984.
"The issue was raised way before any of us became trustees and those issues were always looked at and reviewed in the past," said Peters.
"But by the same token, this is home for us. If anything, the attorney general or the governor should move. This is the home of Pauahi and this is her domicile."
The IRS and the attorney general's office have raised concerns about a possible exodus.
In a May 4 letter to the interim board, the head of the IRS's exempt organizations division Marcus Owens said the IRS would move to revoke the trust's tax-exempt status and suspend all negotiations over the estate's tax liabilities if the trust attempted to transfer the estate's assets outside of the IRS's jurisdiction.
Owens -- whose threat prompted Probate Judge Kevin Chang to temporarily remove Wong, Peters, Lindsey and Jervis from their $1 million-a-year posts -- said the estate's lack of internal financial controls and oversight made it possible for the trustees to move estate assets out of the reach of the IRS under the guise of a legitimate business deal.
The attorney general's office voiced similar concerns in the context of a recent trust reorganization. Last November, state attorneys charged that the Bishop Estate may have diverted as much as $1 billion of its assets by transferring its stock holdings in Goldman Sachs Group, Columbia/HCA and Florida-based WCI Limited Partnership to a separate tax-exempt organization.
Judge Chang later approved the controversial reorganization after a court-appointed master found the transfer to be a prudent move.
----------
State high court rejects
appeals by Wong, Peters
By Rick Daysog, Star-Bulletin
The state Supreme Court has rejected appeals by former Bishop Estate trustees Henry Peters and Richard "Dickie" Wong seeking to overturn their temporary removal from $1 million-a-year posts.
Five acting high court justices said yesterday that they lacked the jurisdiction to rule on the former trustees' appeal of Probate Judge Kevin Chang's May 7 order, which removed Wong, Peters, Lokelani Lindsey and Gerard Jervis on an interim basis and appointed five replacement trustees.
The high court justices -- Wendell Huddy, George Masuoka, Ronald Ibarra, Dan Kochi and Shackley Raffetto -- noted that Chang's order was not a final order and that Chang did not give the trustees leave to file an interlocutory appeal.
Glenn Sato, Wong's attorney, said the ruling comes as no surprise. Peters' attorney, Renee Yuen, could not be reached for immediate comment.
The five acting justices are serving as substitutes for the Supreme Court justices who have recused themselves in the case. The high court justices selected the trustees for the Bishop Estate for more than 100 years before ending the practice in December 1997.
http://starbulletin.com/1999/09/23/news/index.html
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Former Governor John Waihee is expected to testify with regard to his business, professional, personal and political relationships with Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Verner Liipfert Bernhardt McPherson & Hand, Jack Abramoff, Ron Rewald, Kenneth Starr, Warren Price III, Yukio Takemoto, Kazu Hayashida, George Ariyoshi, William McCorriston, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, John Waihee IV, Robert Klein, Clayton Hee, Haunani Apoliona, Elizabeth K. Lindsey Buyers, The Nature Conservancy, Faye Kurren, Judge Barry Kurren, John Goemans, Mark Bennett, Jon Miho, McCorriston Miho Miller Mukai, Lawrence Goya, Lisa Ginoza, Gerard Jervis, Judge Kevin S. Chang, Judge David Ezra, William S. Richardson, Matsuo Takabuki; Bank of Hawaii, Donna Tanoue, Renton Nip, Charles Chidiac, Mary Lou Woo, Joanne Mucha, Peter Savio, Wallace Chow Estate, Ms. Simm Wenner, Jann Wenner, Clyde S. Umebayashi, Steven Guttman, Robert Kihune, Gilbert Tam, Guido Giacometti, Susan Tius, RightStar Management, Paul Alston, Louise Ing, Judith Neustadter Fuqua, Steven Sofos, Gary Rodrigues, Alvin Shim, Carol Muranaka, Cecil Santos, Joshua Gotbaum, John Dasburg, St. Paul Travelers Insurance Co., Bruce Graham, David C. Farmer, Ron Burkle, Howard Dean , Jim Nabors, The Hawaii Nature Conservancy, Ralph Boyd, Jr., Mark Hemmeter, Francis Oda, Group 70, Lawrence Johnson, Summit Communications, and others to be named upon discovery.
Internet References:
Zoominfo Profile for Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU
www.zoominfo.com/Search/ReferencesView.aspx?PersonID=912950374
www.kycbs.net/Zoominfo-Profile-Bobby-N-Harmon-CPCU.htm
Related documents, news articles, links
www.zoominfo.com/Search/ReferencesView.aspx?PersonID=3386083
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Waihee_III
www.kycbs.net/Broken-Trust-Book.htm
http://starbulletin.com/97/08/19/editorial/letters.html
http://starbulletin.com/97/09/08/editorial/smyser.html
http://starbulletin.com/97/10/24/editorial/borreca.html
http://starbulletin.com/98/01/16/news/satnews.html
http://starbulletin.com/98/04/15/news/story7.html
http://starbulletin.com/1999/02/10/editorial/borreca.html
http://starbulletin.com/1999/05/06/news/story2.html *
www.starbulletin.com/1999/08/21/news/
www.starbulletin.com/1999/09/23/news/
www.starbulletin.com/1999/09/25/editorial/
www.starbulletin.com/1999/11/19/news/
http://starbulletin.com/2000/02/29/news/story1.html
http://starbulletin.com/2000/05/18/news/story1.html *
http://starbulletin.com/2000/11/28/news/story3.html
http://starbulletin.com/2002/12/12/business/story1.html
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/EE08Df06.html
www.starbulletin.com/2004/11/20/news/story2.html *
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21048-2004Dec22.html
http://www.kahea.org/nars/history.html
www.grassrootinstitute.org/Akaka/AbramoffAkaka.shtml
http://starbulletin.com/2006/04/25/news/story09.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/ron-burkle-hillary-clinton
www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1997/03/WHguests_list.html
www.kycbs.net/AAA-SEC-10-20-0.htm
www.kycbs.net/AAA-10-17-3b.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Tsukazaki-6-20-5.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Fuqua-6-23-5.htm
www.kycbs.net/Witness-Shannon-9-9-5.htm
www.kycbs.net/AsianDevelopmentBank.htm
www.kycbs.net/BuzzardsOfParadise.htm
www.kycbs.net/FiringDobelle.htm
www.kycbs.net/PunaConnection.htm
www.kycbs.net/MaunawiliValley.htm
www.kycbs.net/NatureConservancy.htm
www.kycbs.net/Nature-Conservancy-Hawaii.htm
www.kycbs.net/SandwichIsles.htm
www.kycbs.net/Summit-Communications.htm
www.kycbs.net/WeinbergFoundation.htm
Equity 2048 -The Richards Report
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~rroth/Richards%20Master%20Report.doc
XL Reinsurance Policy No. XLRKS-01796
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-XL-Policy-Dec.pdf
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-XL-Policy.pdf
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-XL-Policy-Append.pdf
Equity 2048 - Related Correspondence and Documents
www.kycbs.net/Lindsey-docs-Vol-1.pdf
www.kycbs.net/Lindsey-docs-Vol-2.pdf
www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-Adler-Aipa-3-15-95.pdf
www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-Adler-Cartwright-4-14-95.pdf
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-Mediation-Order-3-9-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-Anzai-McCubbin-4-27-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-AG-Trustees-4-27-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-Miyagi-AG-4-27-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-Seal-Docs-5-3-0.pdf
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www.kycbs.net/EQ2048-XL-Miyagi-AG-5-26-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-Form990-1998-pdf
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IRS Closing Agreement for Kamehameha Schools
www.kycbs.net/KSBE-IRSagrmnt.pdf
www.kycbs.net/KSBE-IRSagrmnt2.pdf
Broken Trust - The Book
www.kycbs.net/Broken-Trust-Book.htm
Hawaiian Apartheid
www.kycbs.net/Apartheid-Hawaii.htm
TO GO TO THE WOO VS. HARMON WITNESS INDEX
Creation Date: October 16, 2005
Last Update: January 26, 2010
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CHRONOLOGY
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March 13, 2007: Judge David Ezra signs Order to shut down website
January 26, 2010: Latest update on www.kycbs.net
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