Sia attorneys sued A high-powered law firm and a prominent Honolulu attorney allegedly conspired to help imprisoned Indonesian businessman Sukamto Sia hide assets from creditors, according to a lawsuit filed by the trustee in Sia's local bankruptcy case.
over hidden assets
Sia bankruptcy trustee Guido
Giacometti has sued attorney
Renton Nip and the Verner
Liipfert law firmBy Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.comRenton Nip, a former state land use commissioner, and the Washington, D.C., firm of Verner Liipfert Bernhard McPherson and Hand knowingly helped Sia hide assets under foreign shell corporations, according to the suit. Nip and Verner Liipfert have represented Sia in his bankruptcy proceedings. An attorney for Verner Liipfert denied the accusations. James Paul, an attorney for Nip, said the case has no merit.
"The acts had a wrongful or illegal purpose, and were carried out by wrongful or illegal means," the suit said. "Defendants' conduct in aiding and abetting the concealment of Sia's interest and diverting the assets was willful, reprehensible, and in conscious disregard of the rights of the (bankruptcy) estate and creditors."
The Verner Liipfert firm was acquired earlier this year and is now known as Piper Rudnick. Nip, once of counsel to Verner Liipfert, is now an attorney at law firm Waihee & Nip, along with former Gov. John Waihee. Waihee used to be with Verner Liipfert and joined Nip this spring after Verner Liipfert closed its Honolulu office, according to Nip and Warren Price III, attorney for Verner Liipfert.
Nip and Verner Liipfert also allegedly failed to disclose to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court that they had received several thousand-dollar payments from Sia after he filed for bankruptcy in November 1998, the nine-count lawsuit said.
The suit, filed in late October by bankruptcy trustee Guido Giacometti, seeks unspecified damages from Verner Liipfert and Nip as well as Sia, who is serving a three-year prison term in Lompoc, Calif. The suit also names Sumitro Sukamto, Sia's younger brother. Federal charges against Sumitro were dropped after Sia made a deal last year to reduce his prison time by pleading guilty to bankruptcy fraud and wire fraud.
Sia denied all the new allegations in a court response filed last month by his attorney, Noah Fiddler.
Nip and Verner Liipfert denigrated Giacometti's lawsuit in their own court motion, calling it incoherent and inadequate.
"This is the classic shotgun," said Price, attorney for Verner Liipfert. Price said the counts against his client are groundless. Since the lawsuit appears to be grounded on underlying accusations of fraud, Giacometti should spell out how and when Verner Liipfert participated in a fraud, Price said. Once that is done, Verner Liipfert will seek to dismiss the counts against it, Price said.
A hearing on Nip and Verner Liipfert's motion is scheduled for late January.
Giacometti declined to comment.
The suit revolves around allegations that surfaced in Sia's federal bankruptcy fraud case, including the charge that Sia hid millions of dollars from the 1997 sale of his Gulfstream jet. The suit alleges Nip directed Gulfstream to wire more than $9 million from the sale of the jet to an account of one of Sia's companies in Singapore. It is also alleged that Nip received a $42,500 "bonus" from a transaction in which millions of dollars went to a shell corporation controlled by Sia from the sale of a Ritz-Carlton hotel in Sydney, Australia.
When Sia filed for bankruptcy, he said he had $9.3 million in assets and nearly $300 million in debts. Giacometti has estimated Sia's actual assets at $79.6 million. Sia's bankruptcy estate had received $4.6 million as of Sept. 30.
Nip and Verner Liipfert are also accused of malpractice. Giacometti alleges they had a conflict of interest in representing both the buyer and seller in a deal to sell Sia's loan rights on the downtown Executive Centre high-rise.