Category Archives: Business

Miske’s termite licenses expired, companies out of business

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If you were a customer of either of the termite treatment companies owned by Michael J. Miske, Jr., it looks like you’ll have to find a new pest control provider.

A check of state professional and vocational licensing records shows Miske’s two termite companies have lost their licenses and are no long legally able to provide services.

Miske was arrested on July 15, 2020 as the alleged ringleader of a violent criminal gang, and now faces multiple federal charges including kidnapping, murder, and drug trafficking. Ten other men were also charged along with Miske as being part of a racketeering conspiracy or taking part in one or more of the group’s past crimes.

Federal prosecutors allege Kama’aina Termite and Pest Control was legitimate business. “but also served as a headquarters for the planning of criminal activities, the laundering of illicit proceeds, and the fraudulent “employment” of individuals whose “work” consisted of engaging in acts of violence or fraud on behalf of the Miske Enterprise.”

Kama’aina Termite was first licensed in October 2000. The state’s licensing division website now indicates: “License is expired unable to practice”.

The same notice appears for Oahu Termite, which Miske took over from its original owners several years ago.

Click on either image to view a larger version.

Prosecutors allege the Miske Enterprise relied on a series of businesses

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Last week’s indictment of Honolulu businessman Michael J. Miske and ten others alleges that Miske used his de facto control of a number of businesses “to enrich the members and associates of the Miske Enterprise and to protect their criminal activities.”

The most prominent Miske-linked company is Kama’aina Termite and Pest Control, Inc., which was named Hawaii’s best pest control company for several years by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

The indictment alleges Miske “was the de facto owner of KTPC, although at different times, the names of other persons were used to conceal or obscure MISKE’s control ofKTPC..”

I’ve compiled a list of this and other companies directly or indirectly linked to Miske, or which are registered, or receive mail, at the same Queen Street address as Kama’aina Termite.

The first group includes those companies where Miske’s role can be found in public records. The second group consists of companies that receive mail at the office of Kama’aina Termite or another address controlled by Miske.

The table lists the company name, the date it was registered with the state’s Business Registration Division, and the date it’s business registration was cancelled or revoked.


See also:

Alleged gang leader tried to hide ownership of legitimate businesses to hamper federal probe, iLind.net, July 18, 2020.

Throwback Thursday: Local credit cards 1958-1960

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My dad died in October 2010, just six weeks before his 97th birthday.

As I went through his voluminous stash of papers, photos, letters, and other documents, I found an old wallet with these credit cards from a long-gone era.

Before the introduction of national credit services like Visa, Mastercard and American Express, there were local merchants who extended their own lines of credit.

You can click on the photo to see a larger version.

It seems like an interesting bit of Hawaii memorabilia worth sharing for this Throwback Thursday.

Chasing those federal small business grants & loans

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We have friends who own and operate a small business. Very small, truly a “mom & pop” operation that’s been doing business and getting great customer reviews for decades.

They shared some of their frustration attempting to apply for a small piece of that first big “Paycheck Protection Program” support package aimed at keeping businesses afloat. I’ve edited out their names and that of their lender.

Just about everyone has suggested we try and get some of the help being offered for small business’. We had been diligently searching what programs we might fit into and how to fulfill their requirements. We applied for a PPP loan after consulting with our tax preparer, spending many hours assembling the needed documents and filling out the various forms and finally scanning and emailing our bank a 25 page application.

After a few days we get this response.

Aloha,

Thank you for your recent application. After careful consideration, we regret to inform you that we are unable to approve your Paycheck Protection Program application as presented. Attached is our Adverse Action letter which will outline further the reasons why we were not able to process your request.

Thank you

And the attached “Adverse Action Letter” simply said that their application did not meet the bank’s program criteria.

But it offered, invitingly, “if you have any questions, please email us….”

So they did. Here’s the next exchange.

Could you please be more specific as to why we do not meet program criteria. We met with our tax preparer and spent many hours preparing our application and feel we deserve a more complete explanation as to why we have been turned down. Is our business too small to qualify? Clearly, bigger businesses with smart lawyers have no problem qualifying.

The response was received within a couple of hours.

Aloha,

Due to the high volume of requests we’ve received, we are unable to accept all applications. In addition, the Small Business Administration portal is overloaded and our ability to submit requests is limited. Because of our resources and the SBA’s limitations, we are forced to devote our efforts to process the loans that impact as many of Hawaii’s employees as possible.

Because we are processing current applications, we are unable to devote substantial resources at this time to researching individual PPP situations.

Mahalo!

Obviously very frustrating.

Then they learned about the next round, the Small Business Relief and Recovery Act.

This is a program set up by the city to administer $125,000,000 of federal funds as grants to small businesses on a first come first served basis. $10,000 is the maximum amount any business can receive. Their funding website oneoahu.gov opened last Monday and I submitted an application for on Tuesday morning. (This time with only ten scanned & emailed pages.) On Friday I got an email from a guy at one of the credit unions administering the grants asking for more documents and urging haste as the money was rapidly running out. He was extremely helpful and after several email exchanges he submitted a claim Saturday morning which will basically cover the two months rent we lost and hopefully keep us up and running a while longer.

We’ll keep you posted…. fingers crossed….

And our fingers are crossed for all of us.