HONOLULU FIRM'S BANKRUPTCY IS LINKED TO POSSIBLE SUICIDE ATTEMPT, CIA DATA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000605480178-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 30, 2011
• Sequence Number: 178
• Publication Date: August 10, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/30: CIA-RDP90-00552R000605480178-4 STAT
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WALL STREET JOURNAL
10 August 1983
Honolulu Firm's Bankruptcy Is Linked
To Possible Suicide Attempt, CIA Data
The SEC evidently isn't counting en-
BY Scar J. PALTROW tirely the possibility of CIA involvement by
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL the firm. When the documents were turned
The involuntary bankruptcy of a Hono-
lulu-based over, the SEC asked Judge Martin Pence to
investment firm that allegedly seal them and has asked U.S. intelligence of-
to the Central Intelligence Agency. whether there ? was any solid indication of
The firm, Bishop, Baldwin, Rewald, Dil- the firm's involvement with intelligence ac-
lingham & Wong Inc., is accused by the Se- tivities, Mr. Wolff said: "It's too confused to
curities and Exchange Commission of de- be able to make a responsible comment at
frauding private investors,-whom it encour- this point." -
gered a number of bizarre events, including
the attempted suicide of the firm's chair-
man. It also has prompted an investigation
to determine whether the firm's records
might disclose sensitive information relating
aged to invest in "tax-deterred investment
savings accounts." _
On Monday, the Los Angeles regional of-
ficials to fly from Washington to review the
documents to determine if they do indeed re-
late to intelligence matters.
Mr. Wolff declined to comment on any of
the accusations pending against Mr. Rewald
A spokesman for the CIA In Washington
said the agency wouldn't have'any.comment
on the matter while it still is the subject of a
a court order th federal court in Honolulu, !federal law enforcement investigation.
freezing Bishop Baldwin's assets and the Promised Return of 20%
personal assets of its chairman, Donald R According to court documents, Bishop
Rewald.: Baldwin promised investors an -annual re-
According to documents filed with the 1 turn of at least 20176 and claimed falsely that
suit. the amount that investors put in totaled its accounts were insured by the Federal
about S17 million. But SEC officials said a
preliminary investigation by a court-ap-
pointed bankruptcy trustee indicates that
the total may have been much larger. The
SEC said in court documents that the bank-
ruptcy trustee so far has been able to locate
only about 5200,000 of the firms assets.
Claims Link to CIA
Bishop Baldwin was forced into involun-
tary bankruptcy last Thursday by four cli-
ents who claim they were victimized by the
firm. The following day. Mr. Rewald report-
Deposit Insurance Corp. The firm claimed
that it could obtain such high returns in part
by investing in highly profitable investments
in Hong Kong and elsewhere overseas.
The full name of the firm, Bishop,
Baldwin, Rewald, Dillingham & Wong, con-
tains the names of three very prominent Ha-
waiian families, the Bishop, Baldwin and
Dillingham families. But an SEC official
said that, apparently, no one related to those
families was affiliated with the firm.
The bankruptcy trustee has located re-
cords showing that Mr. Rewald "has been
actively misappropriating investors' funds
in the account by using the funds to pay, at
a minimum, $30,000 of personal expenses a
month," the SEC documents stated.
Mr. Rewald reportedly has claimed pub-
licly that he did work on behalf of the CIA.
Two weeks ago, according to SEC court doc-
uments, one of Mr. Rewald's bodyguards re-
moved files from the firm's office. The firm
subsequently refused to turn over the docu-
ments to the bankruptcy trustee, claiming
that they related to national security mat-
ters. But the documents finally were turned
over to a federal judge on Sunday.
edhv slashed his wrists. He remained hospi-
talized until Monday night, when he was dis-
charged and arrested by Honolulu police on
theft charges related to his activities at
Bishop Baldwin. One of Mr. Rewald's law-
yers, Peter C. Wolff Jr., said Mr. Rewald re-
mained in custody last night.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/30: CIA-RDP90-00552R000605480178-4