Things you should have been told in the media coverage of the PKF Indictment, but weren't:
(Kinda funny how these teensy-weensy little details didn't make it into any of the media coverage on PKF this week, eh?)
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Rail Auditor Arrested for Money Laundering -- Ties to OHA, DAGS, UH
KHON: A local businessman with University of Hawaii athletics fundraising ties (and who provides auditing services to HART and OHA and has a contract to overhaul the state's accounting system) was arrested for theft and money laundering.
Patrick Oki, age 45, was picked up by authorities just before 11 a.m. Sunday at the Honolulu International Airport. He’s the managing partner of PKF Pacific Hawaii, a company that provides auditing, accounting, and advising services (to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, among others).
KHON2 was the only media present when Oki was brought into the Honolulu Police Department’s main station.
Oki was booked on four counts of theft in the first degree and three counts of money laundering.
KHON2 also learned that Oki is the treasurer for Ahahui Koa Anuenue, the official fundraising organization for UH athletics. We reached out to the group’s president, who declined to comment, but confirmed that Oki still sits on its Board of Directors.
We also learned that Oki was the president of the UH Alumni Association.
read ... PKF Pacific
Related:
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Indictment names companies, fake identities used by PFK Pacific Hawaii's Patrick Oki
PBN: Oki, a certified fraud examiner, forged signatures including "Hide Tanaka," and "Gerald Woodward," and wrote false entries in PKF's books, using companies such as Kamakura Corp., AMC Associates, Asia Market Corp., and Sumitomo, according to the indictment.
All four partners named as the complainants in the indictment left the firm last year. They are Lawrence Chew, Deneen Nakashima,Dwayne Takeno, and Trisha Nomura.
The partners, who formed PKF in 2010 after their former employer, Grant Thornton, left the Hawaii market, alerted law enforcement officials when they discovered that Oki's claimed work-related expenses were personal. The investigation lasted a year before Oki's arrest at Honolulu International Airport.
read ... About OHA and HART's auditor
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Patrick Oki stepping aside from managing PKF Pacific Hawaii
PBN: PKF Pacific Hawaii said Wednesday that Managing Partner Patrick Oki — who was arrested over the weekend on 13 counts of alleged theft, forgery, and money laundering — is stepping aside from the day to day management of the Honolulu-based accounting firm.
The firm is moving forward with a three-person executive committee with Reg Baker, whojoined PKF as a partner in October, serving as chair alongside PKF partners Rodney Lee and Tyler Kimura.
KHON: PKF has 21 employees total and its partners and managers have accrued more than 150 years of cumulative accounting experience
read ... Stepping Aside
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PKF Pacific Standing by Indicted Partner (Wow. Just, wow.)
KHON2: Reg Baker, who’s now in charge with two other partners. He says the accusations are a personal matter between Oki and four former partners who turned him in.
Baker also believes Oki will be back managing the company.
“If it turns out he’s found guilty, what happens to the company?” KHON2 asked.
“If that should happen, and we’re hopeful that it will not, but if it does, then we’ll explore options with communicating with PKF North America,” Baker said.
Oki was arrested Sunday and charged with theft, money laundering, the use of a computer to commit a crime and forgery.
Baker said there had been a falling out between Oki and four partners who left the company. Those same four partners reported the alleged crimes to the police.
“Of course, you know, whenever you’ve got a falling out of partners, there’s probably some emotions involved,” Baker said. “I believe that it will all come out in court. I believe that Pat is a good person and he will make sure that the truth is told.”
Baker said Oki and the four former partners had been negotiating a settlement so Baker was just as shocked as everybody else at PKF when Oki was arrested.
read ... Standing by Indicted Partner
News release on arrest of Patrick Oki
News Release from Honolulu Prosecutor April 6, 2015
Patrick H. Oki, Managing Partner at the Honolulu CPA firm PKF Pacific Hawaii LLP, has been charged with 13 felony counts of Theft in the First Degree, Money Laundering, Use of a Computer in the Commission of a Separate Crime, and Forgery in the Second Degree, Prosecuting Attorney Keith M. Kaneshiro announced today.
Oki, 45, was arrested yesterday at Honolulu International Airport by agents from Immigration Customs Enforcement and members of the Honolulu Police Department after he arrived on a flight from South Korea.
Oki was arrested on the strength of a grand jury bench warrant that was issued April 1, 2015, when an Oahu grand jury returned a secret indictment. The indictment was unsealed this morning.
Oki’s arrest reflects the Prosecutor’s Office’s continuing commitment to prosecute high-ranking white-collar criminals who victimize Honolulu businesses. Last year, the Prosecutor’s Office prosecuted Mikio Sato, the former Chief Financial Officer of Prudential Locations. Currently, the office is prosecuting Toni Ann Floerke, the former Chief Executive Officer of Certified Hawaii.
“Honesty and integrity play vital roles in accounting because people rely on the information to make appropriate judgments,” Kaneshiro said. “When a senior partner engages in fraud and deceptive practices, they not only threaten the consumers of their work but the company they serve and every employee of that company. For that reason, they will be prosecuted.”
Oki is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner. It is alleged that during the period from January 27, 2011, through and including January 27, 2014, Oki perpetrated four separate and distinct fraudulent reimbursement schemes against PKF Pacific Hawaii LLP, which sustained losses of more than $500,000.
In each scheme, it is alleged that Oki falsely claimed he had personally incurred expenses in connection with services provided to clients. In furtherance of his schemes, Oki created fictitious persons, companies, contracts, IRS forms, invoices, financial documents, websites, and e-mail addresses. Oki also made false entries in the firm’s books, forged signatures of fictitious persons, and deceived his partners, who reported the matter to law enforcement after they discovered that the “expenses” Oki claimed were personal and not work-related.
If convicted of the computer charge, Oki faces an indeterminate sentence of 20 years in prison with no possibility of probation.
Oki’s arrest was the resulted of a year-long investigation by HPD’s Financial Crimes Detail. The case is being handled by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Christopher T. Van Marter, head of the prosecutor’s White Collar Crime Unit.
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Recent PKF Audits:
Coverage:
- SA: Accounting firm partner accused of stealing $500,000 from his company
- KITV: Oki, 45, arrested Sunday at HNL after arriving from South Korea
- PBN: “We’re going to be meeting with our attorneys in the next day or two and will be in a better position to provide comment then,” PKF Partner Reg Baker told PBN on Monday.
- HNN: Man with fundraising ties to University of Hawaii athletics charged with felony theft
- SA: More than 50,000 pages of financial records, emails and other materials uncovered by 20 search warrants
- SA: On March 23, American Express, through American Express Centurion Bank, filed a lawsuit in Circuit Court alleging that Oki owes the creditor $62,216.