Man Sentenced for Embezzling From Family Trust

By Wendy Osher

A34-year-old Honolulu man was sentenced to two years, nine months in federal prison yesterday for embezzling money from a local family trust.

Scott Kamiya was also ordered to pay more than $284,000 in restitution.

Kamiya worked as a realtor and served on the board of directors of the Honolulu Board of Realtors. He also served as a bookkeeper for a family trust between 2005 and 2010, according to information produced in court.

Court documents indicate that Kamiya took money from the trust accounts by altering checks to make them payable to himself or his business entities; depositing checks made payable to the trust into his own personal or business accounts, by forging endorsements of the trustee; and initiating on-line transfers to pay his own personal and business expenses.

An FBI analysis determined that Kamiya misappropriated money at least 107 times and obtained a total of $284,000 from the trust accounts.

In July 2011, Kamiya pled guilty to one count of bank fraud.

At sentencing, United States District Judge Leslie Kobayashi expressed concern that Kamiya’s acts were “premeditated, repetitive and abused the trust placed in him by others.”

Kamiya was ordered to self surrender on February 14, 2012 at a mainland prison facility.