| Randall
Roth, a respected professor of trust law at the
University of Hawaii, for
co-authoring |
| this book. |
| |
| All royalties for
the sale of this book goes to the Early Education
Program in Hawaii. |
| |
| Book review excerpts by Liz Lichtgarn quote:
|
| "Telling this drama with an admirable level of
clarity, accuracy and deliberation are co-authors |
| Samuel P.
King, senior U. S. District Court judge, and Randall W. Roth, a
law professor at the |
| University of Hawaii Law
School. The authors provide historical background and
financial |
| context for
the machine that is at the center of the
tempest, Bishop Trust. Princess Bernice |
| Pauahi Bishop was a descendant
of the royal Kamehameha blood line in Hawaii. |
| |
| The true story of the modern
plundering of Hawaii's Bishop Estate Charitable Trust, describes
as |
| a world
record for breaches of trust," has elements most novelists
couldn't devise. Just when you |
| think the only thing missing from this
account of avarice, arrogance, corruption and deception is
|
| sex, we get lewd acts in a
public rest room, no less, as well as strip clubs called Saigon
Passion |
| and suicide
pacts. |
| |
| Hawaiians are not naturally
given to public protest, but by 1997 they were frustrated enough
with the |
|
attitude
and ineptitude of the board of trustees that they
organized a massive march upon the Bishop |
| Trust
headquarters to show dissatisfaction. The local
Star-Bulletin newspaper published an in-depth |
| article that was
the seedling sprout of this book, outlining the
trustees' failures. King and Roth build |
| tension and
suspense by describing how the trustees react to the tightening grip
of at least four |
| separate civil and criminal
investigations. |
| |
| Subpoenas fly, surveillance photos are snapped,
phones are bugged, tires are slashed, judges cry in |
| court, suicide
factors in. The IRS swoops in like a huge predatory bird and threatens
to revoke the |
| trust's tax exempt
status, which would cripple the schools. Is paradise lost? |
| |
| This presentation
is reader friendly. Kudos for the superior index, which
is a necessary tool for |
|
keeping tabs on the
hefty cast of characters here. |
|
|
| "Broken Trust" ends
with such irony; it seems that even King and Roth can hardly believe it.
|
| |
| If the measure of
tragedy is how far the mighty can fall, then this story is enormous. It
is important to |
| remember that
the catalyst of it all was the perception that Hawaiian children were
being compromised |
| through the gift of their royal
family, the Kamehameha Schools. |
| |
| A quote from the book
says, "You know, we Hawaiians are kind of funny. You can waste or even
|
| steal our money,
that's one thing. But when you hurt our children, that's something
altogether different." |
| End of Quote. |
| |
| You will find
more "Broken Trust" editorials,
reviews and or public opinions at: |
|
|
