HALT REWALD SUIT, U.S. SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000605490183-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2010
• Sequence Number: 183
• Publication Date: July 19, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/09/16: CIA-RDP90-00552R000605490183-7
HONOLULU ADVERTISER (HI)
19 July 1984
Could interfere with probe
Halt Rewald suit,
By Walter Wright
Advertirtr Staff Writer
The "full story" of Bishop,
Baldwin, Rewald, Dillingham &
Wong will not be known until
all criminal investigations and
prosecutions are over, the gov-
ernment said this week.
Acting Assistant Attorney
General Richard K. Willard
made that claim in support of
the government's request to
temporarily halt company
founder Ronald Rewald's civil
suit against the Central Intelli-
gence Agency.
Willard said it made no sense
to allow the civil action to pro-
ceed, because of the likelihood
that key figures, facing possible
criminal prosecution, would
probably take the Fifth Amend-
ment when asked questions in
civil court.
Willard also said that letting
the Rewald civil case proceed
could interfere with the crimi-
nal investigation and potential
prosecutions.
U.S. Attorney Daniel Bent, in
a declaration filed with the
court, said the FBI criminal
investigation of Bishop Bald-
win, begun last August, is "ac-
tively ongoing."
Rewald partner Sunlin L.S.
Wong, president of the compa-
ny, has pleaded guilty to feder-
al charges of mail and securi-
ties fraud, admitting that only
$630,000 of $4 million received
from investors was ever invest-
ed in anything.
By pressing the civil case,
Rewald can get far more infor-
mation for a criminal defense
than he would be allowed nor-
mally in a criminal case, Wil-
lard said.
No one should be allowed. to
use civil court rules "as a
dodge to avoid the restrictions-
on criminal discovery and
U.S. says
thereby obtain documents he
would not otherwise be entitled
to for his use in his criminal
suit," Willard said.
Almost two pages of Wil-
lard's 11-page memo to the
court were blanked out in
copies filed in the public
record. The material was de-
leted in accord with the court's
order concerning the sealing of
"information relating directly
or indirectly to the Central
Intelligence Agency," Willard
said.
The memo noted that Rewald
previously filed with the court
a sealed affidavit- "concerning
his allegedly extensive involve-
ment with the Central Intelli-
gence Agency."
The deleted material appar-
ently includes a description of
Rewald's charges that the CIA
set up his company as a cover
for intelligence gathering, then
allowed it to collapse.
Approved For Release 2010/09/16: CIA-RDP90-00552R000605490183-7