Category Archives: Business

A history of dubious deals–Part 2

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[Second in a series. Click here to read Part 1.]

The house is flipped again

On September 24, 2018, Dubin sold his 100% interest in Greentree Properties LLC (the Nevada company which held title to the property at 91 Coelho Way) to James Harold Hall, real estate records show. In a later court filing, Dubin claimed the selling price was $3 million. 

It is hard to imagine a more unqualified buyer than James Hall. Less than nine months previously, Hall had been awaiting eviction from a Hawaii Kai home which he had occupied, without payment of rent and without permission, for 4-1/2 years. And, because Dubin had represented Hall  in opposing foreclosure proceedings and stalling Hall’s eviction, the attorney must have been well aware of the dire state of Hall’s finances.

The purported sale came just two months after the Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed a petition before the Hawaii Supreme Court recommending Dubin be suspended from the practice of law on an interim basis, while a hearing officer’s recommendation Dubin be disbarred was considered.

The court declined that recommendation, but Dubin was subsequently disbarred from the practice of law in state courts by order of the court effective in November 2020. A similar disbarment order was later issued by Hawaii’s US District Court following a reciprocal discipline proceeding. 

Dubin has appealed of both orders to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, although an earlier attempt to obtain relief from the US Supreme Court was rejected. The appeals, and related civil lawsuits against the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, are pending.

Just one week after Hall took over as the sole owner and manager of Greentree Properties, the company filed a lawsuit seeking to evict Jeffrey Dunster, who had been residing in the home since 1993, a total of 25 years.

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A history of dubious deals—Part 1

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Part 1: Rags to riches?

It was the beginning of 2018.  James Harold Hall and his daughters had been living rent free as squatters in a series of Hawaii Kai homes for 6-1/2 years, and were now awaiting imminent eviction from the  2,460 square-foot waterfront home on Kumukahi Place in Hawaii Kai where they had resided since mid-2013.

Their string of squats had started in 2011, when the family ran out of money and could no longer afford rent. Instead, Hall moved them into a vacant house nearby, the first in a series of empty homes where they lived without authorization.

Since then, the family had been evicted from two other homes, and were now “being threatened momentarily with eviction by a court-appointed foreclosure commissioner,” Hall’s attorney at the time, Gary Victor Dubin, wrote in a last-ditch appeal to the Hawaii Supreme Court to block this foreclosure and eviction. 

The high court was not moved and declined to hear the case. The Halls were ejected from the property not long afterwards.

But less than nine months later, Hall’s finances appear to have remarkably improved. 

In September 2018, Hall bought Greentree Properties LLC, a Nevada company, for $3 million from Dubin, the attorney who had been representing him. Greentree’s primary assset was the large residence at 91 Coelho Way in Nuuanu, court records show.

It was just the latest curious transaction in the history of the property, which was suddenly thrust into the news last April, and became a matter of public interest, when 29-year old Linden Myeni was shot and killed by police as he exited the home.

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More data on entities registered in international tax havens

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The International Consortium of Investigative Reporters today announced the release of new Pandora Papers data from two offshore service providers, adding “more than 15,000 companies, foundations and trusts” to their database of entities registered in secrecy jurisdictions.\

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists is publishing data on the beneficial owners of more than 15,000 offshore companies, foundations, trusts, and other entities from the Pandora Papers investigation. The records were incorporated into the Offshore Leaks database and come from two offshore services providers: Panamanian law firm Alemán, Cordero, Galindo & Lee (Alcogal) and Fidelity Corporate Services, headquartered in the British Virgin Islands.

With this publication, ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks database now contains crucial information about more than 800,000 offshore entities that stem from five different leaks, and links to people and companies in more than 200 countries and territories.

The addition of this data brings more transparency about the real owners of companies, foundations and trusts registered in secrecy jurisdictions. In all, the interactive application reveals more than 740,000 names of people and companies behind secret offshore structures.

Just for fun, I typed “Hawaii” into their search box. This is the list that was returned. It appears to have found names that included “Hawaii” rather than necessarily based in Hawaii.

Here’s the same search for “Hawaiian”.

Okay, I’m sure there are a few aspiring sleuths out there who will want to dive in and see what you can find about these entities, and whether they are in fact based in or controlled from Hawaii.

The hotel next door

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I’ve been frustrated for the past week, finding lots of “dots” without being able to figure out what the picture will look like when the dots are finally connected.

Here’s an example.

You may recall that back in April, police officers responding to a 911 call shot and killed a 29-year old from South Africa, Lindani Myeni, outside a home at 91 Coelho Way in lower Nuuanu.

It still isn’t clear what Myeni was doing at the home, or why he attacked the responding officers.

State real property records show the current registered owner of the property is James H. Hall, a former contractor who moved to Hawaii from Wisconsin with his wife and four children at the beginning of 2009, after his business had gone bankrupt and their home was lost through foreclosure.

Records show Hall purchased Greentree Properties LLC, a Nevada company that held title to the Coelho Way property, in September 2018 from Honolulu attorney Gary Dubin, who has since been disbarred by the Hawaii Supreme Court. Three months later, Hall transferred title in the property from Greentree to himself.

A week after the fatal shooting, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported the home had previously been the subject of complaints about illegal short-term rentals.

In 2019 and 2020 the city Department of Planning and Permitting investigated seven complaints that 91 Coelho Way was being used as an illegal short-term rental. Rentals of fewer than 30 days are not allowed at the property, said DPP spokesman Curtis Lum.

In addition, according to the Star-Advertiser, police officers also responded to several other incidents at the home, including a car break-in, a possible COVID violation, a car accident, and a “miscellaneous incident.”

However, the complaints led to a dead end.

“Our investigation determined that the ads were for 30 days or more, which is not a violation,” Lum told Star-Advertiser reporter Peter Boylan. “On-site inspections of the property did not reveal an illegal short-term rental on this property.”

End of story? Apparently not.

What wasn’t known at the time is that the Hall applied for and received received four federal Payroll Protection Program loans during 2020 and 2021 that totaled over $215,000, including two that classed his businesses as operating a hotel or motel.

In each year, separate loans went to Greentree Properties LLC, the Nevada company owned by Hall since 2018, and to a sole proprietorship also owned by Hall, PPP loan records show.

All four loans were made by First National Bank Texas. These were the only PPP loans made by the bank in Hawaii.

Greentree received a PPP loan of $96,656 in 2021. Greentree’s loan application was approved on April 9, just two days before Myeni’s shooting. Despite applying for and receiving the PPP loan, based on a prior year’s payroll, Greentree Properties is not listed among companies registered to do business in Hawaii, state business registration records show.

Hall’s sole proprietorship received $29,165 in 2021, according to the PPP lookup at the website, FederalPay.org. Both company’s applications reported they were in an industry category for “Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels.”

According to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS):

This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in providing short-term lodging in facilities known as hotels, motor hotels, resort hotels, and motels. The establishments in this industry may offer food and beverage services, recreational services, conference rooms, convention services, laundry services, parking, and other services.

FederalPay.org examined loan eligibility criteria, and estimated the annual payroll of $464,000 was required to qualify for the loan awarded to Greentree Properties in 2021.

The size of company’s PPP loan indicates that the number of employees on payroll during the eligibility calculation period (typically 2019) was higher than the 4 jobs reported as retained on the PPP application3. This could be caused by a reduction in employment since 2019, due to Coronavirus or other factors.

The minimum number of employees this company must have had in 2019 to qualify for the loan range received is 5. This estimation is accurate if all employees were paid at or over the $100k PPP salary eligibility cap….

Based on the standard PPP eligibility formula, it may be possible to estimate the payroll expenses represented by a company on their PPP application (see details above). In order to qualify for the PPP loan amount received, Greentree Properties LLC’s 2019 payroll expenses are estimated to be at least $463,949 (not accounting for salary amounts > $100k).

In the earlier round of PPP loans distributed in 2020, Hall received a loan of $20,800, while Greentree received a loan of $69,000. Both companies listed themselves in a different category, this one defined as “other services to buildings and dwellings.”

“This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in providing services to buildings and dwellings (except exterminating and pest control; janitorial; landscaping care and maintenance; and carpet and upholstery cleaning),” according to the NAICS definition.

Examples of the types of services in this category include building exterior cleaning services (except sandblasting, window cleaning), swimming pool cleaning and maintenance services, chimney cleaning services, ventilation duct cleaning services, and drain or gutter cleaning services.

Greentree Properties LLC, a Nevada limited liability company, had been established in 2007 by former Honolulu attorney Gary Victor Dubin to hold title to the Coelho Way property. Dubin had sole control of Greentree from 2007 until September 2018, when he reportedly sold his interest in the company to Hall, court records show.

Then on November 26, 2018, Hall, now acting as the sole member of Greentree, executed a quit-claim deed transferring title to the Coelho Way property from the company to himself personally. Honolulu real property records now list Hall as the property’s sole owner.