Rep Andria Tupola to Host Hawaii Tax Conference
Who's Squandering Your Money at OHA?
Hawaii AG Sues Feds for Records on Deportations of Illegals
Business Taxes: Hawaii Ranks 27th
‘Con-Artist’ OHA and HART Auditor Gets 20 Year Prison Sentence
HNN: …A former top accounting executive and president of the University of Hawaii alumni association was sentenced to 20 years behind bars Tuesday for theft, forgery and money laundering….
Patrick Oki, 48, was also found guilty of using a computer in the commission of a crime, which carries a mandatory 20-year sentence.
"The guy is a con artist. He's a liar. He's been lying his way through life most of his adult life,” said Deputy Prosecutor Chris Van Marter.
(And no media outlet other than Hawai’i Free Press is revealing that Oki was HART and OHA’s auditor for years.)
At trial, Oki claimed he was legally entitled to the money and should not be criminally prosecuted….
"He is an evil person, full of lies and deceit. I do not believe this is the first time he committed these crimes. This is the first time he got caught and prosecuted,” said Lawrence Chew, a former PKF partner.
Added Trisha Nomura, another former partner: "We didn't deserve to have our lives ruined so Patrick could fund his lavish lifestyle and second life at the expense of our firm."
Oki's lawyers had asked that his prison sentence be place on hold pending appeal. But the judge rejected that, prompting sheriffs to take him into custody….
read … 'He is an evil person': Victims of top CPA convicted of fraud urge tough sentence
Embezzlement? Homosexuals Accuse chief investigator for Office of Disciplinary Counsel
AP: …The nonprofit Hawaii LGBT Legacy Foundation has accused a former high-ranking FBI official of stealing more than $33,000 while he was the organization's treasurer.
The nonprofit told police that between November 2016 and August 2017, 56-year-old Robert Kauffman wrote improper checks and made several unauthorized withdrawals from the foundation's bank account, Hawaii News Now reported .
"Several of these checks and bank account withdrawals were in excess of $3,000, which requires the approval of two board members," attorney and foundation director David Brustein said. "Robert did not have signatures or board approval."
Kauffman is a former assistant special agent-in-charge of the FBI's Honolulu field office. He is currently chief investigator for the state Judiciary's Office of Disciplinary Counsel, which oversees attorney conduct.
Kaufmann's attorney, Myles Breiner, said his client is "innocent of any embezzlement" and was safeguarding the money from being misspent.
He said Kauffman returned the money with a cashier's check even before the foundation went to the police. Kauffman plans to fight the allegations.
read … What could go wrong?
Caldwell: I have Two Secret Nominees Lined up to Stack Police Commission
SA: …Caldwell said Tuesday that two people have agreed tentatively to accept terms on the unpaid panel….
The announcements could be made as early as next week, he said. “I think the public will be happy with those that we selected,” he said…. (Translation: They know what they have to do.)
… it’s doubtful the members will be on board to take a (first) vote on picking Kealoha’s replacement, a decision that is expected to be made next week, shortly after the commission interviews all seven finalists for the job Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. (That’s the plan, let the other four show their hand and the two will swoop in to do the job.)
After the potential commissioners are nominated, they will need to be confirmed by the Honolulu City Council, a process that typically takes at least two months (or two minutes, depending).
“Whether they are there in time to be involved with the selection (just watch), I do have full confidence with the members that are there to make the proper determination and pick the best chief out of that pool,” Caldwell said….. (Translation: They know what they have to do.)
SA: Gerard “Jerry” Gibson, left, and Karen Chang (Couldn't keep that secret for long.)
KHON: Honolulu mayor nominates hotel executive to police commission
read … 2 tentatively agree to serve as city police commissioners
Top police chief candidate defends integrity after criminal trial 24 years ago
HNN: …Retired federal agent Thomas Aiu is being forced to defend himself after questions have been raised regarding his testimony in a 1992 tax fraud case, United States v. Harada.
Aiu's truthfulness on the stand was a concern and got him barred from testifying in other cases.
The issue is being brought up now by former judge and federal prosecutor Steven Alm, who wrote a letter to the Honolulu Police Commission because Aiu is considered a top candidate for the HPD Chief position.
Documents obtained by Hawaii News Now show that the Justice Department conducted two investigations into claims against Aiu's testimony, and in both cases, found that Aiu did nothing wrong.
The memorandums show the Justice Department also wrote that Aiu could return to the stand.
Nonetheless, he remained blackballed by other federal prosecutors in Hawaii.
That led to a civil complaint filed by Aiu against Alm, the U.S. Attorney at the time.
Keith Kiuchi, who represented Aiu in the civil claim, called the blackballing a form of retaliation because the outcome of the tax fraud case was not favorable to the prosecution…..
read … Liar?
Third HPD officer charged in federal public corruption scandal linked to Kealoha
HNN: Lieutenant Derek Hahn was taken into custody at around 11 a.m. at his home in Hawaii Kai by FBI agents. The 20-year veteran of the force is charged with conspiracy to obstruct.
Hahn is currently assigned to the department's communications division and will be placed on unpaid, administrative leave.
Former HPD Maj. Gordon Shiraishi, 61, and HPD officer Bobby Nguyen, 43, were the first people arrested in connection with the probe, which is linked to former Police Chief Louis Kealoha and his wife, Katherine, a deputy city prosecutor.….
read … Three Down …
Democrat Voters to be Punished for Electing Officeholders who Raise State and Local Taxes
AP: Millions of Americans would lose a prized tax break under President Donald Trump’s sweeping revamp of the tax code, but corporations would get to keep it.
The Republican proposal would eliminate the federal deduction for state and local taxes, a widely popular break used by some 44 million Americans, especially in high-tax, Democratic-leaning states like New York, New Jersey, California and Illinois….
read … Punishment
Discussions underway over where Trump should stay during Oahu visit – Maoists and Democrats Hoping for Waikiki
HNN: …Sources say there are discussions underway about whether to put the president up at the Marine Corps Base Hawaii during his stay Nov. 3 or in Waikiki.
Shirlene Ostrov, chair of the Hawaii Republican Party, got the call from the White House on Monday confirming the president's stopover.
"My phone was ringing off the hook the second I hung up with the White House. We are excited," she said.
Ostrov hopes the President can make time for local Republicans.
Trump will stop in Hawaii before launching on a two-week trip to Asia.
During his visit, he's set to visit the USS Arizona memorial and getting a briefing from the U.S. Pacific Command.
Organizers of the anti-Trump Women's March this past January say it's too soon to tell how large protests against president will be, but they are organizing with grassroots activists.
"We will definitely use this opportunity to let President Trump know that we are not happy in the direction that he is taking the country," said Karolina Turska, team leader for Women's March Oahu
"We want to meet him and tell him face to face how we feel," said Evangeline Bautisa, a hotel housekeeper with Local 5 who has participated in anti-Trump rallies in Waikiki. "We want to meet him and tell him face-to-face how we feel," she said….
read … Protests Planned
Hawaii Is Still Falling Short In Its Inspections Of Health Care Facilities
CB: The state has been doing better at inspecting nursing homes, but lack of staff means other inspections take a back seat…..
read … Excuse to Hire More HGEA Members
Soft on Crime: “He gets into trouble anytime he’s not in prison”
MN: …Outside the bar, witnesses reported that Burkhart was rubbing his groin and staring at two women, Hicks said. The women got up to leave and Burkhart punched one woman in her right eye, causing a black eye, bruising and swelling, she said.
As the woman fell after being punched, Burkhart grabbed her by the hair, Hicks said.
She said Burkhart ran when the woman’s friends intervened.
Later, a review of surveillance video showed Burkhart taking what appeared to be a gun out of his waist pack and placing it in his shorts pocket while he was in the bar, Hicks said. Police recovered a .38-caliber revolver when they executed a search warrant for Burkhart’s luggage Monday morning, she said.
Burkhart arrived on Maui on Oct. 2 to stay with his father and look for a job, Hicks said.
She said Burkhart is “known by law enforcement to be involved in the USO Family prison gang.”
In asking that Burkhart be held without bail, she said, “His criminal history shows he is a ticking time bomb.”
“He gets into trouble anytime he’s not in prison,” Hicks said. “Since 1996, there’s been practically no period where he hasn’t had contact with the law or been in prison.”
For his most recent conviction for being felon in possession of a firearm, Burkhart was sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison in 2009, Hicks said. He was released from prison in 2012 before violating his supervised release by using methamphetamine and being sentenced to another 11 months in prison.
He has convictions for third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, possessing drug paraphernalia and reckless driving in 2006. In 1996, he was sentenced to a 10-year prison term for keeping a firearm in an improper place and two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, Hicks said.
He also has 1994 convictions for third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug and a liquor violation.
Deputy Public Defender Brad Sova objected to the “exhaustive, cumulative recitation of my client’s criminal history,” going back 20 years “just to place him in a bad light.”…
read … Soft on Crime
Hawaii’s missile defense urged as North Korean threat persists
AP: Although the United States has been stymied in reining in North Korea’s nuclear program, a former U.S. Pacific Command deputy commander said President Donald Trump’s tough words can be matched with real action by enhancing the defense of Hawaii.
“The president cannot allow North Korea to get comfortable with the notion that they have the initiative on all fronts,” said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Fig” Leaf, who lives in Honolulu. “Improving Hawaii’s defenses complicates the (North Korean) attack calculations and puts Kim Jong Un on notice that the U.S. is not going to sit idly by under their threats, nor will it limit its actions to negotiation or military operations on the Korean Peninsula.”
A new defensive U.S. missile that could do just that is expected to be tested as early as the spring in Hawaii against a simulated North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile, a defense expert said.
Although that missile, Raytheon’s Standard Missile-3 block IIA, is being developed for international use, and the testing just happens to be in Hawaii, the Aloha State could be a direct beneficiary by also placing the missile interceptors in the state, said Riki Ellison, chairman of the nonprofit Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance….
Meanwhile: Hanabusa Blocks Missile Defense for Hawaii
read … Hawaii’s missile defense urged as North Korean threat persists
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