Hawaii Attorney General Alleges Former Governor John D. Waihee Looted $39 Million from Funeral Funds

State Sues to Get Back $39M Looted from Graves by John Waihee
12.08.2011

by Purna Nemani, Court House News

Hawaii claims that a law firm that DLA Piper acquired through merger drained $39 million from state-regulated prepaid funeral and cemetery contracts.

The State of Hawaii and The Huntington National Bank, as trustees for 18 Hawaii funeral and cemetery trust funds, sued DLA Piper, "successor in liability through merger to the now-dissolved law firm of Verner Li pfert Bernhard MacPherson and Hand." (REMEMBER THEM FROM BROKEN TRUST???)

The complaint is related to an intervenor complaint filed in February, by former successor trustee Comerica Bank and Trust, consolidated as In re RightStar Related Cases.

Hawaii and the bank "seek damages from Piper arising out of the wrongful acts of a former Verner Li pfert partner and employee, former Governor John D. Waihee III, as alleged in the intervenor complaint and set forth below."

The intervenor complaint is against four former trustees, including Waihee, of 14 preneed trusts and four perpetual care trusts. It seeks an accounting and damages for "inter alia, the trustees' breaches of fiduciary duty by permitting improper withdrawals from, and imprudent investments by, the trusts, and other wrongful conduct"... (Complete Story)

Original Court Document

Also see:

• Rogues Gallery: Hawaii Lobbyists G. A. "Red" Morris, John Radcliffe and company they keep...
• Hawaii's Former Governor John D. Waihee III Opposed Legalized Gambling in Hawaii
• Detroiter Malik Says He's Been Planning Belmont Race Track Casino for 6+ Years; But He Has Yet to Meet with NYRA Officials
• Strange Bedfellows: Hawaii's Former Governor & Detroit's Gambling Promoter?
• Why is Detroiter Mike Malik Dragging former Hawaii Governor Waihee around Long Island, NY?
• Disclosure? And their tangled web: Detroiter Michael Malik, the Jack Utsick Ponzi Scheme, Shinnecock & Bay Mills Indians, and Akerman Senterfitt
• Michael Malik: The Latest Life & Times of a Detroit Casino Syndicator
• Controversy seems to always follow Detroit Casino Syndicator Michael Malik
• Ilitch casino development partner Michael Malik defaults on $1 million bank loan

Hawaii Gambling Advocates Make Unsubstantiated Claims, False Representations; Won't Reveal Those Bankrolling Lobbying Campaign

Blogger's Note: John Radcliffe (a lobbyist & career union operative who is a confidante of Hawaii's Gov. Neil Abercrombie) and Elizabeth "Liz" Hata-Watanabe, his latest recruit, have failed to be forthcoming and instead demonstrate a conspiracy to mislead and even deceive Hawaii's journalists, voters, public officials and legislators in order to get approvals for their Detroit/Las Vegas clients to build a casino in Waikiki.

Entrepreneurs get rolling on Waikiki Casino idea

7.24.2011

By Richard Borreca

Liz Hata Watanabe is not one to sit on the sidelines. The former nightclub owner and entrepreneur has a new cause: getting Waikiki a casino.

Watanabe founded Citizens for a Better Way, an organization she says has more than 300 active members lobbying for a casino to provide new jobs and a new business for Hawaii...

That Citizens for a Better Way (CFBW) has “300 active members lobbying for a casino” is curious.  They may have used mainland money to fund an automated robotic telephone poll or canvas of voters, among whom 300 said they would support the idea of a casino in Honolulu, but that hardly represents “300 active members lobbying.”

Further, that Watanabe represents she has 299 other people actively lobbying for their casino schemes and yet the Facebook page for CFBW, activated more than six months ago, only has 14 fans or “Likes,” suggests someone’s exaggerating the truth again.

Not to mention, when Watanabe organized CFBW she did so as a limited liability company and in the paperwork she filed with the Hawaii Department of Commerce & Consumer Affairs she specifically designated that CFBW would only have one member and it was Watanabe.

When Jim Dooley, an investigative reporter for HawaiiReporter.com asked lobbyist John Radcliffe & Watanabe where they were getting the money to support CFBW and how much they’d spent lobbying, they refused to reveal where the funds were coming from and told Dooley they would spend “very little.” Very little? 

But when Watanabe was mandated to file a lobbying campaign disclosures report in May 2011, they had spent nearly $40,000 on “Advertising Media.” Very little? Out of 230 entities that reported they’d spent money lobbying in Hawaii, only four spent more than CFBW; the truth is, the pro-casino group fronting for mainland gambling interests was among the Top Five Lobbying Spenders!

Ilitch Assault & Battery arrest tied to latest lawsuit alleging Ilitch Conspiracy

from the archives of the

8.12.04

ILITCH SON PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO ABUSE

Frank Witsil
Free Press Staff Writer

Ron Ilitch, one of Detroit Red Wings and Tigers owner Mike Ilitch's sons, was arraigned Wednesday and charged with two counts of domestic violence for allegedly twice beating his former girlfriend, Lisa Wood, at his Troy home.

Wood of West Bloomfield told police Ron Ilitch also assaulted her in Aurora, Colo., on July 10.

Police said the Michigan incidents occurred on June 24 and Aug. 1. Ron Ilitch was released Wednesday on bond of $10,000 after pleading not guilty in 52-4 District Court in Troy. Bond conditions included counseling for substance abuse and no contact with Wood.

"There is a lot I don't know yet," said Ilitch's attorney Harold Fried.

However, he said, in domestic violence allegations, there often is more than one version of events.

Each charge is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 93 days in jail, police said.

According to the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office, Ilitch and Wood argued at Ilitch's Troy home on Caitlin Court on June 24. He allegedly hit her, causing bruising and a swollen eye and hand. She initially did not report the incident, said Charles Claus, warrants division chief with the prosecutor's office.

Later, they went on vacation to Colorado, Claus said. On the way, they stopped at Valley Community Hospital in Peru, Ill., where Wood was treated for her injuries, Claus said.

On July 10, Wood reported she was assaulted again, Aurora Police Detective Larry Martinez said.

On Aug. 1, after the couple returned, Wood told police she was assaulted a third time.

She said Ilitch hit her in both arms. She ran from the house to a neighbor's home, called Troy police and went to a local hospital for treatment, Claus said.

Wood could not be reached for comment. Ilitch is due back in court Sept. 16.

Mike Ilitch founded Little Caesars pizza restaurant in suburban Detroit in 1959. The family's business holdings now include the Detroit Red Wings, the Tigers, the Fox Theatre and Hockeytown Cafe.

NOTE: Ron Ilitch would ultimately plea "No Contest" to these charges.

Documents imply Ilitch may have gotten special treatment in Domestic Assault case

Following an 8.02.04 Domestic Violence call, Troy Police Department records indicate Harold Fried, an attorney for Ronald Ilitch, cut a deal with officers who allowed him to produce his client the following morning at the Police Department rather than endure questioning -- and a possible arrest -- at the crime scene.

The afternoon following the call to Police, a local NBC affiliate was reporting:

"The son of Detroit business icon Mike Ilitch is wanted by Troy police for questioning, according to Local 4 reports.

"Police said they want to speak with Ron Ilitch about a fight he apparently had with his girlfriend.

"Authorities reportedly have been unable to locate Ilitch."

Lisa Wood, Ron Ilitch's girlfriend, had been living with him at the time. According to various news accounts, on several occassions during the Summer of 2004, Ilitch beat Wood such that she had to seek medical attention. Following the last beating the incident apparently spilled out onto the driveway of the Ilitch home, and on 8.02.04 Troy police were called to the scene.

When police arrived, they were told Ron Ilitch was nowhere to be found. However, a subsequent Troy PD Report documents that Captain Dane Slater had agreed to allow Ilitch attorney Harold Fried to bring his client to PD offices for questioning the next day rather than face any possibly embarassing circumstances at the crime scene. Police never entered the Ilitch home, where the beating had taken place, to look for Ilitch.

So Fried it appears, as promised, produced Ilitch at 10:00 a.m. the next morning. But when Fried and Ilitch arrived at the Police Department, Fried sought a private audience with three of the officers. He explained that Ilitch was "not in any physical condition that would allow him to relay facts of the incident accurately." Instead, Fried informed the officers he would produce a written statement from Ilitch by 11:00 a.m. the next day.

Ilitch would eventually be arraigned on 8.11.04 and then later plea "No Contest" to two counts of Assault related Domestic Violence. (Troy Police Dept. Press Release: Ilitch Warrants Issued)

An 8.04.04 Oakland Press story on the incident also noted:

"Ronald Ilitch has a checkered criminal history that includes drunken driving and drug charges. He was arrested in Wyandotte in 2002 after a fight, and his
1992 Cadillac was impounded as a drug forfeiture. Police at the time said Ilitch had three drunken driving convictions and two bouts with a suspended license on his record."

And Detroit's NBC affiliate reported at the time:

"Local 4 learned that a domestic violence claim was filed against Ilitch last month in Aurora, Colo., where he apparently owns property."

In December 2008, Lisa Wood filed a contracts related lawsuit in Wayne County Court (MI), involving allegations of Conspiracy subsequent to the August 2004 beating and visit by police to the Ilitch home.

Wood says executed contract agreements between herself and Ilitch affiliates were among her personal belongings in the Ilitch home. Wood's complaint alleges that Ilitch and/or Ilitch agents refused to allow authorities to enter the home during the three days following the beating during which time they worked to destroy crime scene evidence and destroy any evidence, to the point of deniability, that her executed contract agreements ever existed. (Lisa Wood v. Little Caesar, Ilitch et al).

In an amended version of the complaint, Wood alleges that Jimmy Shemami, son of confessed Iraqi spy Najib Shemami, was part of the Ilitch family's personal security detail at the time and alleges that Shemami may have been involved in the conspiracy to cover up the crime scene and dispose of Wood's personal papers.

Did Ron Ilitch receive special treatment in this matter? Were Ilitch and/or Ilitch agents allowed to clean up the crime scene and destroy evidence? What role did Shemami's son play?

Why did officers leave the Ilitch home without questioning or locating Ilitch -- especially given his track record?

Why did officers agree to let Fried bring Iitch into the Police Deparment the following day rather than interview and examine Ilitch when they were called to his home?

Was Ilitch sober/clean when he arrived at the Police Department the following day?

When the local NBC affiliate reported domestic violence charges had also been filed against Ilitch the previous month in Colorado, why didn't Police and Prosecutors take appropriate action?

Do you think Harold Fried got special treatment for Ron Ilitch?

Amended complaint links Detroit's Ilitch family to that of confessed Iraqi spy Najib Shemami

An amended court complaint filed in Wayne County 3rd Judicial Circuit Court by Lisa Wood, a former girlfriend of Ron Ilitch, now names Jimmy Shemami as a defendant along with Michael Ilitch, Little Caesar Enterprises, Inc., Ilitch Holdings, Inc., and Richard Fenton, vice president of security for Ilitch.

Among the five counts outlined in Wood's amended complaint are charges the Defendants were involved in breach of contract, negiligence and conspiracy.

Jimmy Shemami is the son of confessed Iraqi spy Najib Shemami. Wood has alleged that Jimmy Shemami was part of the team that provided personal security services to members of the Ilitch family -- namely Ronald Ilitch, the oldest son of Mike & Marian Ilitch -- at the time she was the victim of an attack by Ron Ilitch in August 2004.

Following the August 2004 assault by Ron Ilitch, Troy Police were called to the Ilitch home where Wood had been living as Ilitch's girlfriend. Once police arrived, Wood was taken by ambulance to a local hosptial for medical care and subsequently refused re-entry to the Ilitch home. When officers arrived on the scene they were told Ilitch was not home but never entered the residence.

Ron Ilitch plead "no contest" to two counts of Domestic Violence related Assault & Battery but Wood alleges in this newly amended lawsuit that the Defendants and/or those working at their direction cleaned up crime scene evidence and went through her personal effects at the Ilitch home, secreting and destroying executed contracts and supporting documents that were her personal property.

Jimmy Shemami was reportedly present following the August 2004 assault by Ron Ilitch and in subsquent court proceedings on that matter, the court singled out Shemami and ordered him to avoid having any future contact or communication with Wood.

Najib Shemami was among several Detroit-area men arrested in April 2007 and indicted on charges that he was a spy for the former government of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. He's been in custody since and on January 16th, U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy announced Shemami had admitted to spying for Saddam Hussein's government. According to the Detroit News, the elder Shemami is expected to be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Detroit on May 11th.

A search of various FaceBook.com profiles suggests that Shemami and Ilitch family members are further acquainted. It has been reported to TVT that from time-to-time Shemami family members have been hosted as guests in the owner's suites at Comerica Park and Joe Louis Arena which reportedly makes Mrs. Marian Ilitch very uneasy.

Attorneys Irwin Alterman (Kemp Klein Law Firm) and Harold Fried (Fried Saperstein Abbatt PC) are representing the Defendants in this matter. Fried also represented Ron Ilitch in the 2004 Assault & Battery incident.