Problem #1: He was convicted on December 20, almost two weeks ago, making it rather old news.

Problem #2: The Star-Advertiser already reported an AP version of the same story it the “breaking news” section on December 22.

Problem #3: The Star-Advertiser’s December 22 and January 2 stories both appear to be based on the same government press release without additional reporting.

Problem #4: You wouldn’t know, from the S-A story, that the Star-Bulletin archives contain some detailed reporting on earlier cases of fraud involving Lighter.

Admittedly, I’ve got a personal interest here because I recognized long ago that Lighter was a world-class con artist and his schemes worth reporting on.

So even though it’s a legal holiday, and the end of a long holiday weekend, I still hope to get more than rewritten press releases from our daily newspaper.

But it is what it is.

I managed to find several of my old folders in a backup of a long-gone computer. It’s got files dating back more than 20 years relating to Eric Lighter, convicted this week in San Jose on 17 counts stemming from a complex tax fraud.

A number of documents were archived with an old PaperPort scanner. The original software no longer runs on current Macs, but it turns out GraphicConverter, a wonderful Mac program and handy tool under many circumstances, is able to open them. From there I can print them as pdf’s.

For example, here’s a list of business names registered by Lighter as of March 1999.

And then there’s this gem, a 1987 memo filed in bankruptcy court by Les Iczkovitz, attorney for the Association of Apartment Owners of the Hawaiian Colony Condominium. It describes what may have been the first time Lighter was publicly accused of substantial criminal fraud.

According to the memo, the Hawaiian Colony was built by developer Eugene Despain and his company, Erdesca, Ltd.

During the period from October, 1980, through March, 1984, Despain acted as the Managing agent for the Hawaiian Colony; as the attorney for the Hawaiian Colony AOAO; managed the hotel pool at the Hawaiian Colony, and controlled all of the activities of the Hawaiian Colony Association Board of Directors. In these capacities Despain violated numerous laws and stole thousands of dollars from many people.

Although managing and representing all apartment owners, Despain failed to pay maintenance fees, as required by law. As a result, the AOAO fell deep into debt, and apartment owners faced the threat of having their electricity and as turned off due to large unpaid bills, the memo alleges.

By late 1984, Despain had bailed out and Lighter took over all remaining interests in the property, apparently without putting up any money of his own, according to the memo. Lighter also failed to pay maintenance fees and other amounts owed to owners, including those who sold their units and were due the proceeds, the memo alleges. In an attempt to block the foreclosure, Lighter transferred legal titles through a series of shell companies and shills.

He also attacked everyone else with allegations of corruption, including Iczkovitz and other attorneys involved in the case on behalf of a variety of clients. One of those who was targeted by Lighter’s wild claims was David Ezra, now a senior federal judge, who as I recall represented First Hawaiian Credit Corp. in the Hawaiian Colony case.

In the process of creating and transferring paper “rights” to the Hawaiian Colony, Lighter claimed to have separated the “air rights” from the rest of the property. Although those claimed “air rights” were declared worthless in subsequent court proceedings, Lighter continued to use them as a supposed “asset” that he used as collateral in many other questionable transactions. These are the same “air rights” that were referenced in the criminal indictment leading to his conviction this week.

The memo concludes with some questions that remain relevant today.

The Time-Share Operation is no longer in business, but no action has yet been taken against Eric Lighter for his illegal conversion of funds. The question remains why hasn’t the State or the Federal authorities done anything with regard to Eric Lighter so as to protect the time-share owners? The ultimate question is why isn’t Eric Lighter in jail? As a side question, why does Eric Lighter still have his real estate broker’s license?

The charges against Lighter, a 1968 graduate of Kailua High School who has been licensed in Hawaii as a real estate broker since 1973, included multiple counts of conspiracy to defraud the government, wire fraud, witness tampering, and blackmail. The charges and overt acts are described in the 3rd superseding indictment issued on October 4, 2011.

Many of the charges resulted from the case of a California couple, Irwin and Susan Gootnick. I briefly described the Gootnick’s situation in a Honolulu Weekly column in 2007.

According to the indictment, Fung referred Gootnick to Lighter in early 2004 for assistance in dealing with an IRS investigation of several family trusts. Lighter demanded $10,000 in cash for his services and later asked for and received an additional $50,000 ‘loan.’ Lighter, who is not an attorney nor an accountant, then advised Gootnick that the trusts ‘were fake and that by using them, [Gootnick] had committed fraud’ and could be prosecuted. Lighter advised Irwin that in order to protect his assets from seizure by the IRS, he should first convert the trusts into subsidiaries of a new family corporation and then transfer control of the corporation to Lighter.

Lighter then reportedly shuffled ownership in a series of self-dealing transactions after exchanging shares in the new Gootnick Family Trust Inc. for shares of stock in the Hawaiian Colony Hotel Corporation (HCHC), which Lighter claimed to own and was said to include the ‘air rights’ over a property along Ala Moana Boulevard across from Fort DeRussy. Although Lighter claimed HCHC and the accompanying air rights were worth $25-$50 million, a Hawai’i state court said they were worthless.

Lighter eventually received about $500,000 in cash and reportedly took control of a San Francisco medical office building owned by one of the Gootnick trusts. After gaining personal control of the building, Lighter allegedly tied up the property with fraudulent mortgages from other shell corporations that existed only on paper.

The Gootnick’s sued Lighter, and in response Lighter attempted to tie the Gootnick’s assets up in federal bankruptcy court in Honolulu.

Charges were originally filed against tax accountant Samuel S. Fung in 2005, shortly after he settled a civil suit filed by the IRS. Lighter was added to the case in a superseding indictment filed in April 2007.

Fung pleaded guilty in September 2011 to a single count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., and agreed to pay restitution of more than $1.1 million, leaving Lighter to face trial alone.

Lighter is scheduled to be sentenced in March 2012. Lighter was released pending sentencing on the condition that he surrender any passport, not mail “any letters, forms, filings or correspondence of any kind to the IRS,” not dispose or alter any assets, and not contact any witnesses or parties in the case directly or indirectly. He has been ordered not to travel outside of Hawaii and California.

Lighter’s career stretches back decades, and it’s a story that really deserves a book-length history, something I’ve been considering.

I believe he was a latecomer to National Trust Services, an organization which was used to disseminate information about tax-avoiding trusts. According to the indictment, Lighter eventually had control of the National Trust Services trade name, part of a pattern of taking the business names other companies if they failed to promptly renew their trade name registrations.

Lighter was widely known for this practice in Hawaii, where he appropriated several well known business names.

A quick check of business registration records this morning showed Lighter has registered a long list of trade names or business entities in Hawaii.

In any case, there’s a lot more to say about this fascinating case.

For the record, I was sued by Lighter back in 2003 over a 2001 story published when I was still writing for the Star-Bulletin.