LIHUE — The Hawaii Department of Public Safety said it will help remove a group of people who are occupying the Coco Palms property on Kauai.
LIHUE — The Hawaii Department of Public Safety said it will help remove a group of people who are occupying the Coco Palms property on Kauai.
The deadline for activists to vacate the land was on Sunday, but the occupiers remained on sight as recently as Tuesday, Hawaii News Now reported .
The activists, who claim to be descendants of Kauai’s last king, said they have documents giving them the rights to the land. They have been occupying the land since March 2017.
The department released a statement Wednesday that said officers will assist the property owners, who requested help from authorities. The statement said that for safety and security reasons, the department will not discuss any strategies that might be utilized to remove the occupiers.
The occupiers gained some support Sunday from others in the community, and the crowd grew to more than 50 people.
“What you saw here today was our ceremony to bring us all together and to show that we are all standing here under our own direction to be here for the aina,” organizer Keala Lopez said.
A Kauai judge ordered the activists to vacate the property.
Co-defendants in the court case, Noa Mau-Espirito and Kamu “Charles” Hepa, watched their fellow activists occupy the land from off site. They said they didn’t want to get arrested because they still want to fight for the land through royal patent and ancestry.
Keala Lopez you are one dumb girl. As for all you activists and those who participate in this non sense, I can’t wait to see the Law enforcement officers come after you all. Unreal. Such a waste to society.
THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS AS THEY APPEAR!
Coco Palms Hyatt Resort developers have solicited investment loans of $500,000 each from as many as 172 wealthy Foreign Nationals, in exchange for automatic Green Cards and a direct path to U.S. Citizenship for these rich investors and each of their family members. These EB-5 Visas are often referred to as “Golden Visas’ for this reason.
This Coco Palms Application, in the link below, shows how $86 million (2/3’s of the budget) for the 12,000 sq.’ Hyatt Resort was being raised through wealthy Foreign Nationals in exchange for Green Cards and a path to U.S. Citizenship for them and their family.
These types of insured $500,000 ‘investment loans’ from wealthy foreign investors are happening all over Kaua`i, Hawai`i, and the United States of America —
“The proposal identifies the new commercial enterprise (“NCE”) of the project as Lexden Coco Palms Loan Company, LLC, which was formed in the State of Delaware on January 31, 2014. The project is located at 4-947 Kuhio Highway, Kapaa, on the island of Kauai in the State of Hawaii. 172 immigrant investors will subscribe to the NCE as limited partners in exchange for capital contributions of $500,000 each and an aggregate of $86 million. The NCE will loan the $86 million of EB-5 capital to a third-party entity, Coco Palms Resort. The EB-5 capital loan proceeds will be used to acquire and re-launch The Coco Palm Resort as the Coco Palms by Hyatt in Kauai.”
You can find this quote in the Lexden-Coco Palms Loan Company, LLC application at this link —
http://www.cocopalmseb5.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Approval_Lexden_Hawaii.pdf
The problem is, not even the U.S. Government is able to verify the true identities of these wealthy investors and their families, nor are they actually able to validate where this money comes from. That is why these types of investments may pose a National Security threat for us all. Here is a report from the United States Government Accountability Office —
“The report concluded that because of difficulties ensuring the integrity of the Regional Center Program, USCIS was limited in its ability to prevent fraud or national security threats and could not demonstrate that the program was benefiting the U.S. economy and creating full-time employment as required by law.”
“USCIS has identified fraud and national security risks in the EB-5 Program in various assessments it conducted over time and in collaboration with its interagency partners.”
“Specifically, a senior FDNS official noted that while adjudication of petitions in the EB-5 Program, like other immigration programs, centers on the eligibility of the petitioner, the EB-5 Program also has an investment component that creates increased program complexity and the potential for fraud risks.”
“However, according to USCIS officials, it can be difficult to verify the sources of immigrant investors’ funds and such verification difficulties could pose fraud risks to the program. For example, USCIS officials told us that some petitioners may have strong incentives to report inaccurate information about the source of their funds on their applications in instances when the funds come from illicit—and thus ineligible—sources, such as funds obtained through drug trade, human trafficking, or other criminal activities.”
“USCIS officials said that IPO and FDNS did not have a means to verify self-reported immigrant financial information with many foreign banks. In addition, both USCIS and State officials noted that they did not have authority to verify banking information with many foreign countries. For example, State officials said that because the U.S. government lacks access to many foreign financial systems, there is no reliable method to verify the source of the funds of petitioners.”
“Legitimacy of investment entity – The amount of investment required to participate in the EB-5 Program, coupled with the fact that EB-5 investors are making an investment in order to obtain an immigration benefit, can create fraud risks tied to unscrupulous regional center operators and intermediaries. According to SEC officials, they have identified instances of fraudulent investment schemes, including securities fraud, related to EB-5 investments.”
https://www.gao.gov/assets/680/671940.pdf
This ‘Advisory’ from the ‘U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’ (FinCEN) one of many reasons the Lexden-Coco Palms Loan Company’s statement about their EB-5 Visa program should be a concern to us all —
“Although FinCEN to date has focused on residential real estate, money laundering can also involve commercial real estate transactions.”
“Real estate transactions and the real estate market have certain characteristics that make them vulnerable to abuse by illicit actors seeking to launder criminal proceeds. For example, many real estate transactions involve high-value assets, opaque entities, and processes that can limit transparency because of their complexity and diversity. In addition, the real estate market can be an attractive vehicle for laundering illicit gains because of the manner in which it appreciates in value, “cleans” large sums of money in a single transaction, and shields ill-gotten gains from market instability and exchange-rate fluctuations. For these reasons and others, drug traffickers, corrupt offcials, and other criminals can and have used real estate to conceal the existence and origins of their illicit funds.”
“FinCEN’s analysis of BSA and GTO reported data, law enforcement information, and real estate deed records, as depicted by the case studies in this advisory, indicates that high-value residential real estate markets are vulnerable to penetration by foreign and domestic criminal organizations and corrupt actors, especially those misusing otherwise legitimate limited liability companies or other legal entities to shield their identities. In addition, when these transactions are conducted without any financing (i.e., “all-cash”), they can potentially avoid traditional anti-money laundering (AML) measures adopted by lending financial institutions, presenting increased risk.”
“Money laundering is a crime orchestrated to conceal the source of illegal proceeds so that the money can be used without detection of its criminal source.”
“Use of Shell Companies Decreases Transparency – Criminals launder money to obscure the illicit origin of their funds. To this end, money launderers can use a number of vehicles to reduce the transparency of their transactions. One such vehicle, highlighted in the below case study, is the use of shell companies. Shell companies are typically non-publicly traded corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs), or trusts that have no physical presence beyond a mailing address and generate little to no independent economic value.Most shell companies are formed by individuals and businesses for legitimate purposes, such as to hold stock or assets of another business entity or to facilitate domestic and international currency trades, asset transfers, and corporate mergers. Shell companies can often be formed without disclosing the individuals that ultimately own or control them (i.e., their beneficial owners) and can be used to conduct financial transactions without disclosing their true beneficial owners’ involvement. Criminals abuse this anonymity to mask their identities, involvement in transactions, and origins of their wealth, hindering law enforcement efforts to identify individuals behind illicit activity.”
“Criminals can use all-cash purchases to make payments in full for properties and evade scrutiny— on themselves and the origin of their wealth—that is regularly performed by financial institutions in transactions involving mortgages. All-cash transactions account for nearly one in four residential real estate purchases, totaling hundreds of billions of dollars nationwide, and are particularly exposed to abuse.”
The entire FinCEN report can be read at this link —
https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/advisory/2017-08-22/Risk%20in%20Real%20Estate%20Advisory_FINAL%20508%20Tuesday%20%28002%29.pdf
Here is how another Kaua`i resort development is soliciting these EB-5 investment loans to wealthy Foreign Nationals —
http://www.sihl.in/pdf/hyatt-coconut-beach-resort-hawaii.pdf
As this 2015 article from PBS .org 2015 column explains —
“WHAT’S REALLY AT STAKE IN THE EB-5 INVESTOR VISA OVERHAUL: HONESTY”
“Through the EB-5 visa program, wealthy foreigners can invest $500,000 to $1 million in development projects and in turn, receive green cards for themselves and family members if the investment can be shown to create 10 U.S. jobs. The program is now up for Congressional reauthorization.”
“The ability to monetize a scarce public asset — access to the United States — has become a gravy train for developers seeking cheap loans, immigration attorneys, China-based migration agencies and federally-authorized investment packagers known as regional centers.”
“The profits at stake prompt deceptive practices — both in marketing investments and claiming job creation — that distort the intent if not the letter of the law.”
“But claiming that EB-5 investments create jobs at no expense to the taxpayer is bogus. It’s also why an expected compromise regarding reauthorization of EB-5 falls short, despite improvements to the program.”
“The green card alchemizes profits. Think about it: As long they get green cards, the immigrant investors don’t really care about interest and will take a 1 percent return. Meanwhile, the entrepreneurs getting the loan are eager to pay the regional center 5 to 8 percent as opposed to 12 percent they might have to pay on the open market.”
“Yes, it’s unseemly that green cards can be acquired so cheaply. And I say cheaply, because remember, investors are not giving up $500,000; they’re just parking it for five years or so, and the major cost is foregone interest and fees.”
“The Government Accountability Office this year concluded t U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, could not validly analyze job creation. After all, projects financed through regional centers don’t require a headcount of employees. An economist’s report, which calculates not only direct jobs, but also indirect and induced jobs caused by spending, can suffice.”
“One of the oddities about the EB-5 program is that the U.S. government is giving out the green cards, but the entrepreneur who puts together the investment gets the money. This scheme seems inefficient and open to corruption.”
“EB-5 represents “corporate welfare” for certain businesses.”
“In a modest reform, the new legislation mandates that one of the 10 required jobs be a direct job, validated with a head count.
“So the EB-5 industry will still benefit from rules that allow them to credit immigrant investors for jobs created by the entire pot of money.”
“In other words, the immigrant investors got credit for jobs financed by public subsidies and government-authorized tax-free bonds, funding that was already in place, not leveraged by the EB-5 investment.”
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/column-whats-really-at-stake-in-the-eb-5-investor-visa-overhaul-honesty
We have to Wake Up to the reality that this is happening all over Hawai`i — not not only through the Coco Palms Hyatt Resort developers, but Everywhere!
Please support the Hawaiians in their fight to protect their homelands from big developers who are using opaque foreign investment `loans’ to develop their lands and reroute Hawaii’s natural water systems.
Peaceful Protectors only please — Bring your Aloha, and Respect for the `Aina. No guns, no drugs. Stay and sing, pray, chant, laugh, break bread, and talk story with these courageous Hawaiians who are planting food, clearing the waterways, and tending to the `aina in Wailua.
Mahalo Fathom, interesting analysis and down right treason and corruption, prostituting the very nature of America’s Constitution. These money laundering schemes are a threat to America’s national security all parties involved should be put under terrorists watch and arrested.
I feel like these two clowns will never even get coco palms rebuilt. The market will crash soon and it will not happen. These developers show us all how dumb the county is to even let them have permits. Lease the land for 16000 to all the kanaka that will.make the place special and unique. Stay there, these buggas never gonna get de money to rebuild, no worry beef curry.
It’s awesome these guys are trying so hard to protect the land where Elvis got married.
Could you imagine you bought some property, did your due diligence, and found some yahoos camping on your property saying it was theirs? With some out of date title? Claiming they owned that same property from royal lineage? Only just now bringing it out when YOU bought the property, not 5,10, 15, or 20 years ago…… or even 50? The whole thing is so suspect it is laughable.
No, no, no. All of this above is BS. EVERYONE here is an immigrant. Anyone who wants to spend their money here can do so, and everyone welcomes money here. If this were 200 years ago, yeah, probably the case would have some weight but in reality this is the year 2018, people aren’t gathering, planting, and hunting anymore. They are pushing carts around Walmart and feeding their faces with fattening garbage, meanwhile their kids are getting stoned and drunk at Ahukini and then getting behind the wheel and driving away, How about we work on that instead of this Coco Palms BS. BTW: Wailua is quickly turning into a community of drug dealers, druggies, thieves, and homeless people. They need a high end tourist community so we can hire more Police for that area and clean up the people that don’t seem to want to work for a living other than stealing cars and running people over. Kauai, clean up your act!