Court finds rampant check-writing in estate saga

The Superior Court discovered rampant check-writing made out from the account of the Rita Kaipat estate and found that one claimant did not receive a share, while another got a bouncing check.

This developed as Associate Judge Juan T. Lizama emphasized that ousted Rita Kaipat estate administrator Luis K. Pelisamen and his former lawyer, Joseph Arriola, are not relieved from their duties to account for their actions in the case.

In his order following a hearing, Lizama said that numerous check-writing out of the Rita Kaipat estate began in December 2005 or before Arriola submitted “what now appears to be an inaccurate accounting.”

The judge said Arriola asserts that Pelisamen fraudulently signed Arriola’s name on these checks.

Pursuant to requirements allegedly imposed by First Hawaiian Bank, Arriola and Pelisamen were both authorized signatories on the Rita Kaipat estate account.

On Nov. 25, 2005, Arriola and Pelisamen opened a checking account in the amount of $1,377,058.39 at the Bank of Hawaii under the Rita Kaipat estate’s account name.

Lizama said that Arriola placed his office address as the account’s address and ordered checks. The checks did not arrive, nor did any bank statements arrive, the judge said.

He said Arriola did not follow up with the bank and when he asked about the statements, Pelisamen claimed he was receiving them.

Later, the judge said, Pelisamen mentioned offhandedly that a box of checks had come in.

“At some point, Mr. J. Arriola must have had control of the checks, as he wrote checks to the heirs. Apparently he must not have been paying attention to gaps in the check numbers,” Lizama said.

The accounting that Arriola submitted on Feb. 27, 2006, Lizama noted, gave no indication of the chunks of money that were being siphoned off of the estate’s account.

The judge said Pelisamen paid Arriola for his services in cash on at least one occasion.

“Mr. J. Arriola was also aware that direct deposits were made into his account. He believes these were made in the form of checks, because his account statement said that the deposits were subject to clearance,” he said.

With respect to the shares of the claimants to the Rita Kaipat estate, Lizama said the distribution of shares to the estates of Alejando Laniyo and Nieves K. Olopai could only partially account for this loss.

He said the estate of Jesus Faisao did not receive its share, while a check written to the estate of Carmen Guelles bounced.

Lizama set the continuance of the hearing for May 30 at 1:30pm. Pelisamen and Arriola were ordered to appear.

The Rita Kaipat estate was awarded by the defunct Marianas Public Lands Authority $4.7 million in land compensation settlement. The amount was split equally among the estates of Rita, Isaac, and Benigno Kaipat.