BY JIM DOOLEY
September 7th, 2012
Law enforcement agencies here are investigating two men for alleged financial abuse of elderly women, Hawaii Reporter has learned.
One case involves businessman Daniel Doi, the target of several legal complaints filed in the past two years by state regulators and the Attorney General’s office.
“We’re going to request that the Circuit Court issues a permanent injunction against Mr. Doi,” Deputy Attorney General C. Brian Fitzgerald said today.
The action comes after a Washington D.C. resident, Elizabeth Pierotti, complained to state officials and Honolulu police about Doi’s attempts to sell financial services to Pierotti’s 85-year-old aunt in Hawaii.
“When my aunt told me the story of what Mr. Doi was doing, I immediately Googled his name and up popped a 2010 story in Hawaii Reporter about him,” Pierotti said.
The story concerned a legal complaint filed against Doi by the Attorney General’s office, alleging that he was engaged in the unauthorized sales of legal service plans and that his sales activities “deceived elderly consumers.”
Pierotti said she called contact numbers contained in the story and spoke with officials in the Attorney General’s office and the state Insurance Division.
Doi did not respond to a request for comment left today on his cell phone.
Pierotti said her aunt told her Doi visited her home “several times” and offered to sell her products involving “Medicaid eligibility” and “asset protections trusts,” eventually convincing her to pay him $15,000 “for what he said were legal fees.”
“She wrote him a check, he cashed it and then he wanted her to take money out of her reverse mortgage account and put it in a different account,” Pierotti said.
“My aunt called the mortgage company to withdraw the funds, but they questioned her about the withdrawal and said it didn’t sound right,” Pierotti continued.
“My aunt called me and that’s when I researched Mr. Doi. I called him and said I wanted him to refund the money to my aunt because I was going to contact the authorities about what he was doing,” she said.
“He did refund the money, which had been paid to a company called Kupuna Group, Inc.,” she said.
A letter accompanying the refund check said Pierotti’s aunt, by accepting the refund, agreed “not to pursue any legal action or complaint” against Kupuna Group or its officers or agents.
“I think what he is doing is outrageous. The elderly are easy prey and are reluctant to come forward when they’ve been victimized,” Pierotti sazid.
Abridged
SOURCE: The HawaiiReporter
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