Waimanalo man indicted in alleged $638,000 concerts, rodeo scam
STAR-ADVERTISER / 2009
Turk Cazimero, who has solicited investors under the name “Hawaiian Hurricane Productions,” was arrested at 6:30 a.m. at his home on Nakini Street.
FBI agents arrested a 56-year-old Waimanalo man today in connection with bogus special events promotions through which he lured several Hawaii families to invest a total of $638,000 in concerts and a rodeo that never were staged, according to court documents.
Turk Cazimero, who has solicited investors under the name “Hawaiian Hurricane Productions,” was arrested at 6:30 a.m. at his home on Nakini Street.
He was later turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service to await his initial court appearance, which was expected to be held this afternoon in federal court. A grand jury last week indicted Cazimero on three counts of federal wire fraud. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison per count, according to an FBI news release.
According to the indictment, Cazimero allegedly showed prospective investors event fliers, websites, advertisements and a YouTube video that made it appear as if a country music concert and rodeo had been booked. Also, corporations cited in promotional materials were not actual event sponsors.
Cazimero defrauded “multiple Hawaii families by seeking investments in several non-existent concerts and special events he claimed to be promoting in exchange for investment returns, event sponsorships, and profit-sharing.”
He is accused of using the money for his personal purposes and to repay individuals who had previously invested in concerts and events that never happened.
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Also, the indictment accuses Cazimero of soliciting and receiving investment money from Hawaii residents by falsely claiming that he was promoting “Vans Warped DJ Tour” in multiple cities. No such tour existed, and Cazimero had no business relationship with Vans.
32 responses to “Waimanalo man indicted in alleged $638,000 concerts, rodeo scam”
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SA staff, do you guys ever proof read your articles? Try it, you’ll be glad you did.
They know you’re probably going to read on regardless of boo-boos. I’ll admit the “had been booked been booked” is kinda bad though.
huh?
They fixed it the 4th paragraph with the 3:04 pm update. That’s why, as I tried to tell TigerEye in the comments to another article, that it’s hard to say for certain which iteration of a story a poster has read. I wish the S-A would highlight in different colors what part of an article has been modified and what the changes were. But that probably would be like squeezing blood from a stone.
Why even bother commenting? You know it’s an honest mistake. Online news is about instant gratification. They’re trying to get the news out as quickly as possible and it goes through multiple hands in writers and programmers. You know what it’s supposed to read. Highlighting grammatical or typographical miscues is pointless if it’s corrected shortly after. Are you one of those people that point out “they’re, their, there or you’re” in people’s comments. It’s a waste of time.
The point is to be professional about their — no, not they’re or there — work at all times, regardless whether it’s online news. Rule of thumb has always been check before posting, journalists/reporters/editors included. Simple enough.
Not a waste of time. In a state where standard English skills are woefully deficient, a daily local news outlet that has a media monopoly has a duty to get it right, if only to set an example for readers.
Proofreading it would mean that they actually care about the quality of their work…
As suggested above, why should they care when they know local readers will subscribe regardless of the quality.
You know what they’re implying right? Aren’t you intelligent enough to decipher when it’s a typo or sincere error versus false CONTENT? Just let it be instead of making prejudice comments implying the level of intelligence of “local” people. Makes you look like the idiot.
BH1, you sincerely need to look up the actual dictionary definition of “local” before revealing any more of your racially and ethnically bigoted nonsense.
If you require someone to hold your hand to accomplish this simple task, just ask.
Sounds like a sloppy variation of a pyramid scheme, and like any pyramid scheme, you eventually run out of investors. His last name probably gave him some advantage in reeling in local victims.
If he were a politician it would be business as usual!!
Oh no, Turk…..Bruddha use to run the scene back in the day.
This guy should be a politician! State senate would be perfect!
Come to think of it, he does resemble a few politicians here.
that’s a lot of money.
Did the UH athletic department book his shows for its fundraisers?
Who gets up at 6:30am?
Not criminals who don’t have real jobs. That’s why they surprise them at 630am. Cause they know they’ll probably be comatosed in bed at that time.
What a turkey! He actually thought that he’d get away with this? On the one hand you feel for those poor families. But you have to really be gullible to fall for this type of scheme. Too many people looking for fast money.
“Stupid does as stupid is”, something like that was cited in a movie awhile back as I recall.
I think “There’s a sucker born every minute” is also quite apt.
This guy has a history. Come on SA try to do some checking. I know it is just easier to take a news feed rather than do any actual reporting work but come on, try to pretend at least
will you please.
Yes he does. Scamming for dollar$ seems to be his primary occupation.
Now that he’s been exposed, they should just set him free…I’m sure his investors will want to have a few words with him….
While one must wonder about the intelligence of this crook’s victims, the crook must not be too bright, either. How long did he think he could just hang out in Waimanalo before being arrested? Duh!
This is the stupidest kind of larceny imaginable, yet people keep pulling these scams and the clueless sheep keep getting sheared. Humanity is stuck in a stage of arrested development.
Go read “The Marching Morons” by Cyril M. Kornbluth, first published in 1951. It’s still a fun read today, and should make you feel privileged unless, of course, you truly ARE a moron.
Shame on you Con Man. The disgrace that you have brought upon your family will haunt you forever unless they were part of the con ?
His claim to fame? He was a waiter on the s.s.Independence in the 80’s.LOL
Turk has been a ripoff artist since he was a kid in Pearl City. Never liked the guy.