REWALD'S ATTORNEYS CROSS-EXAMINE WONG TO FLESH OUT COMPANY'S TIES TO THE CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00494R001100710067-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 10, 2010
• Sequence Number: 67
• Publication Date: August 16, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/08/10: CIA-RDP90-00494RO01100710067-5 The Honolulu Advertiser
**P1rNay, Augot 1d, 1tiB5 A-3
Rewald's. afitQrneys cross-examine Wong
to flesh out ~om;pany's ties to the CIA
By Waker Wright
,acerb- StAff w *., '
Sunlin Wogs testified yesterday he travelled
to a form city in 1990 with Ronald Rewakl to
sweet a scan be believed to be a CIA agent.
That man, code-maned "John Dpe 5" in an
exMii. adt hied k4ore Menii lq Re~rald's feder-
al fraud trial yesterday. is a- former Hawaii t+esr-
dent who was oomum tly wanton for the State
Department in Hong Kong at the time. according
to documents and other Information available to
The Adve leer.
The iiw is now deiyd. according to a family
-
Won& formesiy RewaWe partner and ptesi-
dent of Bishop Baldwin Rewalt Dill a &
W. also testified--he aoee- attempted -to find
office spoon in Aaeoh to for another CIA opera-
tive, this one code-mod !'John Doe T." -
With that sadimony. extras d' from Wong on
a+asaexamination; ReowaLd's lawywra began to
flesh out their eo~ntm ion that the CIA was 'ln-
volved with Rewald and his fins to a far greater
extent than it. or Wog, had admitted.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Brian
Tamanaha said such evidence is vital to dispel
the iayprresnori that Rewald's CIA connection
was "a joke" involving little-used secret tele-
phones, or a fiedor invented by Rewald. ' `
But U.S. District Court Judge Harold Fong said
additional CIA involvement may not be relevant
to whether Rewald defrauded investors as charg-
ed.
Fbog said Rewald has to psuwe there was CIA
atQervisbn, control or atansgemein of fimas of
Diidiop Baldwin Rewald Dihliogtham & Wong in a
given CIA activity. or the activity will be cornid-
ered uekvant to the care.
The fact that money spent by Bishop Baldwin
may have benefited the CIA is not relevant in
itself, Fgng indicated, unless Rewald can show
that t,e CIA directed the expenditures.
Rewald eontei1c the CIA directed the creation
and operation of Bishop Baldwin for spying.
promising to rehab rse costs Incurred, but then
chose to "cut and run" when the cover was
blown In 1993
The CIA 'sdmils paying x.3.000 for telephone
and telex services obtained through the firm for
backstop cover for some CIA employes, but
-denies-Rewald's other claims.
Yesterday, Wong testified he thought the CIA
was footing the bill for his trip with Rewald to
meet a CIA agent- But, questioned further. Wong
said he didn't know whether or not Bishop Bald-
win paid for the trip.
Wong. who has pleaded guilty to mail and
securities fraud charges in the case, is serving a
two-year federal prison sentence
Judge Fong admitted into evidence an edited
version of a letter Rewalld and Wong wrote to
Jack W. Rardin, head of the CIAs public Hono-
lulu office. in September 1980. regarding heir
trip abroad.
The letter admitted into evidence was edited
to conceal the destination, the nacre and title of
the person contacted. and some details of their
subsequent conversation and some of Rewald's
observvtions about the country involved.
The Advertiser has obtained a document
which appears to be a copy of the same letter.
showing that the destination was Hong Kong
and that the man they met was working under
the cover of a position in the American connate
there.
Such cover is not unusual for the CIA.
Rewald reported in the letter that -John Doe
5" deeply regretted that Canadian Far East
'tirade Corp., a CIA cover company which Re-
wald and Wong set up in Honolulu, had been
terminated in the summer of 1990.
"He was very familiar with our company and
excited about the prospects of possibly using us
for various cover operations in the near future.
in addition to the possibility of exploring cori-
tacts we have in various other regions," Rewald
wrote.
Rewald wrote that he thought John Doe 5's
interest was in being "turned on" to someone
associated with communists in Hong Kong. "that
he could establish contact or a relationship
with."
In the edited version. "communists" was black-
out out_
In the name of national security. the govem-
tnentt, also had blacked out Rewald's references
to newspaper and personal reports about vice
Premier Deng Xiaoping of the People's Republic
of China.
Also blacked out were Rewald's comments
about Peking's efforts to find oil in the South
China Sea, and that "banking in the region ap-
pears to be very stable."
Such comments might have been excised be-
cause they would help pint the destination
and person contacted by Rewald. An official
familiar with CIA practices, asked about the edit-
ing. told The Advertiser last night that the CIA
routinely avoids publicly acknowledging interest
in given intelligence "targets-"
Wong also testified yesterday that he took a
man introduced to ham by Rewald as a CIA
operative on a tour of Honolulu. looking for of-
fice space in several keations. including the Ala
Moana and Unrvertnty areas.
Neither sot was what the CIA man was look-
ing for. Wong said-
Approved For Release 2010/08/10: CIA-RDP90-00494RO01100710067-5