Category Archives: Hawaiian issues

Occupied Forces Hawaii Army replies to recent coverage

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We got home late Wednesday afternoon, in time to see the Hawaii News Now story on the evening news concerning the group calling itself Occupied Forces Hawaii Army (“Feds link man accused of threatening Hawaii leaders to paramilitary sovereignty group“). A story I wrote for Civil Beat appeared back on April 20 (“FBI Arrests Miske Witness After Waianae Harbor Confrontation“). I knew HNN’s Rick Daysog was working on a story about the group, and had been holding off on doing my own follow-up in order to avoid stepping on his efforts.

OFHA has made two public replies to the coverage.

First, the organization’s leader, who goes by the name Sam Lilikoi, made a short live broadcast the following morning from his small sailboat, which he refers to as the OFHA “warship.” The video can be viewed on Lilikoi’s Facebook page.

Lilikoi, whose real name is Eric Christain Allen Nelson, commented that despite what he views as errors in reporting, the news coverage has given the group a public profile and visibility it previously lacked.

In reply to the disclosure that he was convicted of a series of armed robberties in the early 1990s, and was sentenced to 20 years incarcertation. At the time, he became known as the “bicycle bandit.”

“That was a long time ago,” Lilikoi said. “Sometimes our past makes us who we are now. I’m going to be thankful for my past.”

That’s a very fair point, and one I agree with. Former offenders should not be automatically stigmatized for the remainder of their lives. If they have served their time and learned to stay out of legal trouble, they’ve earned the right to be freed from that past.

The following day, Friday May 13, a small group of OFHA members held a press conference at the State Capitol.

The short statement provides a pretty good overview of OFHA’s beliefs. You can review it here and draw your own conclusions for now. But I’ll be back with some analysis and fact checking later.

Ko Hawaii Pae Aina defendant could face additional prison time

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A Maui woman convicted nine year ago of scamming about 200 people with a Hawaiian sovereignty-based mortgage debt relief scheme, is back in Honolulu’s Federal Detention Center awaiting a hearing on a government motion to revoke her supervised release.

It’s a reminder that there is a history of scams and frauds that have utilized popular theories of Hawaiian sovereignty to convince victims to part with their money.

Mahealani Ventura, formerly known as Mahealani Ventura-Oliver, was convicted after an 11-day jury trial in 2013 on 15 counts of mail fraud, one count each of money laundering, conspiring to submit false tax returns which sought $1.5 million in refunds, submitting a false tax return, and conspiring to use fictitious financial instruments. The jury found a co-defendant, Pilialoha Teves, guilty of conspiring to use fictitious financial instruments and 12 counts of mail fraud. Two others, including Ventura’s then-estranged husband, John D. Oliver, pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors. A fifth defendant was determined not to be competent to stand trial.

I described details about the scam in a post written while Ventura’s trial was underway (“On scams and the sovereignty narrative“).

Ventura received the longest sentence, 78 months incarceration, and was released from federal custody on July 19, 2019, records show. She then began three years of supervised release, and had been scheduled to end the period of supervision in July 2022.

While on supervised release, Ventura was required to comply with several restrictions, including filing monthly reports, notifying her probation officer 10 days prior to a change in employment, paying all expenses out of a single bank account, and obtaining prior approval before opening new bank accounts or obtaining credit cards or merchant charge accounts.

A “Statement of Alleged Violations of Supervised Release” requested that Ventura be required to appear in court “to show cause why supervision should not be revoked.” It was filed in Honolulu’s Federal District Court on February 1, 2022, and listed eight specific violations, which started in September 2021, when she was two-thirds of the way through the period of supervision.

Based on the record, the federal probation office concluded:

Ms. Ventura-Oliver’s behavior and actions clearly reflect a breach of the Court’s trust as evident by her repeated and continuous violations. Ms. Ventura-Oliver’s pattern of non-compliance reflects a disregard for the Court’s order. Consequently, it is respectfully recommended that the Court issue a Summons for Ms. Ventura-Oliver’s appearance before the Court to show cause why supervised release should not be revoked.

Court records show Ventura admitted to the original eight violations. A subsequent additional violation, Number 9, is still before the court, and appears to have triggered the issuance of a warrant for her arrest. Ventura was arrested on Maui on April 12, and is currently being held in Honolulu’s Federal Detention Center.

A revocation hearing is scheduled on Monday afternoon, April 25, before Chief District Judge J. Michael Seabright. Ventura’s court appointed attorney was allowed to withdraw from the case earlier this month, and she will be represented at next week’s hearing by a newly appointed attorney.

Ventura’s violations appear to be Grade C technical violations that do not constitute violations of federal, state, or local laws.

According to a study by the US Sentencing Commission, a judge has several options if it is determined a defendant has violated the conditions of release, including sending the defendant back for an additional term in prison, extending the period of supervised release, or amending the conditions of release. Given the seriousness of her offenses, it appears possible she could be sentenced to another 6-12 months incarceration.

See:

Indictment, USA vs. Mahealani Ventura-Oliver et al, May 26, 2011.

“Tuesday…More on that mortgage scam,” iLind.net, Nov 18, 2008.

“Tuesday, continued…More on the latest sovereignty scam,” iLind.net, Nov 18, 2008.

“Monday…Court documents yield more details in Maui scam case,” iLind.net, June 1, 2009.

“Hawaiiloa Foundation/Ko Hawaii Pae Aina indictments to test sovereignty claims,” iLind.net, May 27, 2011.

“Judge rejects “nonsensical” documents filed in Maui sovereignty scam case,” iLind.net, July 12, 2011.

“Two sovereignty activists plead guilty to fraud and conspiracy in Maui bond scam,” iLind.net, Sept 27, 2012.

“Federal trial underway in Hawaiian sovereignty mortgage assistance fraud case,” ilind.net, Oct 10, 2013.

“On scams and the sovereignty narrative,” iLind.net, Oct 11, 2013.

“Maui Resident Sentenced for Fraud and Tax Charges Related to Debt Elimination Scheme,” US Attorney’s Office, Honolulu, Dec 3, 2014.

Waianae harbor incident leads to arrest of man linked to the Mike Miske case

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I apologize for going dark here for several days. Over the weekend, I received a tip that about the arrest of Lindsey Kinney, who made headlines in 2020 with his public statement that he had turned down an offer of $50,000 from Mike Miske to murder Jonathan Fraser, who was best friends with Miske’s son, Caleb, as well as a separate offer of cash to keep quiet about the original offer. Kinney said that when he turned down the second offer, he became a target himself. Miske faces several charges stemming from directing and being present in May 2017 when Kinney was ambushed while working on a movie set at Kualoa Ranch.

In any case, I spent several days chasing this down, and my story was posted early today by Civil Beat (“FBI Arrests Miske Witness After Waianae Harbor Confrontation“).

The story starts with this a confrontation at the Waianae Small Boat Harbor as DLNR tried to serve a written notice that a sailboat had to leave the harbor because it’s owner had approximately $30,000 in outstanding fines for illegal mooring, etc. This is the boat, a small sailboat that is considered a “warship” by a sovereignty group I had never heard of, Occupied Forces Hawaii Army.

Members of the group “identify themselves by military titles/ranks, describe their efforts as ‘operations,’ don military uniforms, (and) carry illegitimate military documents.” Occupied Forces Hawaii Army is “commanded” by a man who uses the name Sam Lilikoi, and claims the rank of colonel.

In any case, it’s a weird tale to get you through the week.