REWALD TRIAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000301820004-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 14, 2010
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: August 8, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/01/14: CIA-RDP88-01070R000301820004-2
RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.
4701 WILLARD AVENUE, CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND 20815 [phone]
PROGRAM ABC World News Tonight STATION WJLA TV
ABC Network
DATE August 8, 1985 7:00 PM CITY Washington, DC
PETER JENNINGS: In a Honolulu courtroom there is
another trial underway which is likely to involve national
security issues. A man named Ronald Rewald is on trial facing
dozens of charges of mail fraud and perjury. But, as ABC's Jack
Smith reports, there is much more at issue in this case than
simple fraud.
JACK SMITH: He is accused of swindling some 400 people
out of their life savings, many of them widows and retirees. But
Ronald Rewald says the CIA was responsible.
RONALD REWALD: I certainly don't deny the fact that I
was a covert agent, and I don't deny the fact that I was running
that portion of Bishop Baldwyn that involved the Agency.
SMITH: The Agency, of course, is the Central Intelli-
gence Agency, and Bishop Baldwyn, Rewald, Dilliam and Wong, the
name of Rewald's investment firm which he formed here in Hawaii
seven years ago. Its brochures claimed decades of experience it
didn't have, prestigious partners who didn't exist, and federal
insurance that wasn't there.
According to the now banckrupt firm's court appointed
administrator, it attracted $22 million. Only half went back to
investors. The rest was spent by Rewald himself hobnobbing with
the rich and famous and maintaining the lifestyle of a million-
aire. It was the biggest alleged investment scam in Hawaii's
history, and many investors lost everything.
Do you think you'll ever see it again?
Materials I& Approved For Release 2010/01/14: CIA-RDP88-01070R000301820004-2 J rexhibited.
 Approved For Release 2010/01/14: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000301820004-2
WOMAN: Well, we're not very optimistic. No. I think
we've pretty well written that off.
MAN: He mentioned all kinds of operations of the
company that some of which were so secretive only the top echelon
to the operation were privvy to.
SMITH: In fact, in court Rewald and his attorneys will
argue his firm was actually a CIA cover directed from Washington
and that he traveled worldwide collecting intelligence and
carrying out secret missions for the agency.
The case has been widely covered in the media and was
reported by ABC News.
The CIA flatly denies Rewald's story, saying he was
never an agent, was asked only to set up commercial cover for a
handful of operatives, and will cite evidence he was paid $3,000
for his trouble, nothing more.
Complicating the case is the fact that the CIA has
sealed all documents that bear on its involvement, claiming
national security.
Some investigators here feel the agency ought at least
to have known about Rewald's scheme. And the bankkruptcy
administrator, who has declined all recent interviews, is
expected to seek up to $15 million from the CIA for negligence.
THOMAS HAYES (BANKRUPTCY ADMINISTRATOR): What Rewald
has done is the double entente. He used the CIA as his cover
rather than the other way around.
SMITH: The Agency has clearly been embarassed. At the
trial now underway here, Rewald hopes to prove it was also
responsible.
Jack Smith, ABC News, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Approved For Release 2010/01/14: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000301820004-2