Real estate company officer given probation, $10,000 fine

Question: City Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro says his office continues to prosecute high-ranking white-collar criminals who victimize Honolulu businesses. One of the cases it cites involves the former chief financial officer of Prudential Locations, a Honolulu-based residential real estate company. What happened in that case?

Answer: Mikio Sato, the former chief financial officer of Prudential Locations, was sentenced on July 23 in Circuit Court to four years of probation on a charge of first-degree theft.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Christopher Van Marter, head of the prosector office’s white collar unit, said Sato, 40, agreed to a plea deal in which he would not seek a deferral — which would have meant his criminal record would be expunged after a year if he didn’t get arrested.

"The agreement means that the felony conviction would be part of his permanent record," Van Marter said.

Van Marter said Sato also had paid full restitution to Prudential before his office began its investigation in 2012.

Besides restitution, Sato was required to pay a $10,000 fine and $105 to the criminal injuries compensation fund.

Sato stole $276,000 from Prudential Locations, taking payments from a parking lot account and depositing them into a personal account between 2009 and 2011.

In its most recent white-collar crime prosecution, Kaneshiro’s office last week brought charges against Patrick Oki, managing partner of local accounting firm PKF Pacific Hawaii.

Oki allegedly stole more than $500,000 from his company over a three-year period, and was charged with 13 felony counts of first-degree theft, money laundering, use of a computer in commission of a separate crime, and second-degree forgery.

Oki, a certified fraud examiner, also served as the treasurer of Ahahui Koa Anuenue, the nonprofit fundraising arm of University of Hawaii athletics, and is a past president of the University of Hawaii Alumni Association. He was also an executive board member of the Boy Scouts of America Aloha Council.

Oki was arrested on a grand jury bench warrant that was issued April 1, following a secret indictment.

Oki 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, Kaneshiro said in a written news release.

Oki’s arrest came after a yearlong investigation by the Honolulu Police Department’s financial crimes detail, and Van Marter is also handling the case for the prosecutor’s office.

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This update was written by Gregg K. Kakesako. Suggest a topic for “Whatever Happened To…” by writing Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210, Honolulu 96813; call 529-4747; or email cityeditors@staradvertiser.com.