More than 50,000 pages of financial records, emails and other materials uncovered by 20 search warrants issued by police over the course of a year led to the arrest of the founding partner of a Honolulu accounting firm.
Patrick Oki, managing partner at PKF Pacific Hawaii LLP, pleaded not guilty Thursday in Circuit Court to 13 felony counts of first-degree theft, money laundering, use of a computer in the commission of a crime, and second-degree forgery.
His former partners allege he stole more than $500,000 from the firm.
Oki remains the owner of the accounting firm, which was established five years ago, but no longer plays an active role in its management, according to a member of its executive committee.
At his arraignment, Circuit Judge Karen Ahn set trial for the week of June 15 before Judge Colette Garibaldi.
Ahn also rejected a motion by Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Van Marter that Oki be held without bail because four of the complainants are former partners of PKF who fear retaliation.
Oki remains free after posting bail of $250,000 after he was arrested Sunday at Honolulu Airport on arrival from South Korea. He was ordered to surrender his passport by Friday.
Van Marter said the former partners — Lawrence Chew, Deneen Nakashima, Dwayne Takeno and Trisha Nomura, who left the accounting firm last year — are named as complainants in the indictment, which was issued in secret by the grand jury April 1 and unsealed Monday.
Van Marter said the four were concerned there might be ramifications because they turned Oki in to police.
"When a trusted partner and colleague has to report another partner to law enforcement, which results in criminal charges, there is a legitimate concern of retaliation," Van Marter said.
Ahn ordered Oki not to have any contact with his former partners, who left the company last year.
Oki made no statement during his arraignment.
After the brief hearing, his attorney, Richard Sing, said, "There are no allegations of injury or criminal conduct against the clients of PKF."
Sing said he hasn’t had time to review the electronic records or police reports that were gathered during the yearlong investigation and amount to more than 50,000 pages of contracts, emails and financial documents used in an alleged scheme that occurred between Jan. 27, 2011, and Jan. 27, 2014.
According to the indictment, Oki falsely claimed he had personally incurred expenses in connection with services provided to clients. In his schemes, Oki created fictitious people, companies, contracts, IRS forms, invoices, financial documents, websites and email addresses, the indictment said.
Oki also allegedly made false entries in the firm’s books, forged signatures of fictitious people 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.
The indictment said Oki fashioned fraudulent reimbursement schemes, used false entries in the firm’s books, used com- pany names and forged signatures.
Oki made entries in PKF’s books seeking reimbursements and forged signatures using the fictitious names Hide Tanaka and Gerald Woodard, according to the indictment.
Van Marter said after the hearing that Oki was the sole culprit.
"We have no evidence that any employee employed by PKF engaged in any wrongdoing other than Mr. Oki," Van Marter said. "The employees of PKF appeared to be honest, hardworking employees who did good work. Unfortunately, when the evidence is presented at trial, it will show that it was the defendant and the defendant alone who violated the trust of his fellow partners and breached the trust the employees put in him."
He added, "We have no evidence that their clients were harmed. This was strictly a matter between Mr. Oki and his partners."
Van Marter wouldn’t say how Oki spent the money, except that it was used to support a "lifestyle" that was characterized as "consistent with high spending."
The departure of founding partners Chew, Nakashima, Takeno and Nomura last summer triggered a reorganization, according to Reg Baker, chairman of an executive committee.
PKF was formed in 2010 after their former employer, Grant Thornton, left.
Baker, who joined PKF as a partner in October, is serving as chairman alongside PKF partners Rodney Lee and Tyler Kimura.
"The way we see this is that this is a personal matter between Pat Oki and his previous partners," Baker said. "My focus is to move forward to service the needs of our clients and protect my employees."
The accounting firm has 23 employees.
On March 23, American Express, through American Express Centurion Bank, filed a lawsuit in Circuit Court alleging that Oki owes the creditor $62,216.
Van Marter said that civil case is not related to his criminal case.
