CC ~01/'/\...

Document 1 Filed 04/19/19 Page 1 of 7

Case 1:19-cr-00056-SOM PageID #: 1

ORlGlNAL FILED IN THE

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
KENJI M. PRICE #10523 DISTRICT OF HAWAII
United States Attorney APR 19 2019
District of Hawaii
atJ.\_o'clock and_ltmin.~M
SUE BEITIA, CLERK l 5
KENNETH M. SORENSON
Assistant United States Attorney
Room 6-100, PJKK Federal Building
3 00 Ala Moana Boulevard
Honolulu, Hawaii 96850
Telephone: (808) 541-2850
Facsimile: (808) 541-2958
E-mai l: Ken.Sorenson@usdoj.gov

Attorneys for Plaintiff

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT coR 19wO~o 0 56SOM

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) CR. NO.
)
Plaintiff, ) INFORMATION
)
vs. ) [18 U.S.C. § 1343]
)
THELMAPASCUA-SUYAT )
)
Defendant. )
)
~~~~~~~~~)·

INFORMATION
 Case 1:19-cr-00056-SOM Document 1 Filed 04/19/19 Page 2 of 7 PageID #: 2

Wire Fraud
(18 u.s.c. § 1343)

The United States Attorney charges:

INTRODUCTORY ALLEGATIONS

1. At all times relevant to this Information and as set forth herein:

a. THELMA PASCUA-SUYAT (PASCUA-SUYAT) was a

professional bookkeeper employed by Ki-Hana Nursery located in Maui County, in

the State of Hawaii. PASCUA-SUYAT provided bookkeeping services to Ki-

Hana Nursery beginning on or about 2004 and continuing until her termination on

or about January 2016.

b. As the bookkeeper for Ki-Hana Nursery, PASCUA-SUYAT

had access to Ki-Hana's Bank of Hawaii commercial bank account, business credit

card and Ki-Hana's Quickbooks bookkeeping software where business financial

activity, including all credits and debits were to be logged. As the bookkeeper for

Ki-Hana Nursery, PASCUA-SUYAT was authorized to both make deposits and

disbursements from the Bank of Hawaii commercial account of Ki-Hana.

2
 Case 1:19-cr-00056-SOM Document 1 Filed 04/19/19 Page 3 of 7 PageID #: 3

THE SCHEME

2. From a precise date unknown, but by at least December 2008 and

continuing to in or about January 2016, within the District of Hawaii and

elsewhere, the defendant, THELMA PASCUA-SUYAT, devised and intended to

devise a scheme to defraud and to obtain money from others by means of

materially false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, promises and omissions of

material facts.

MANNER AND MEANS

3. It was a part of the scheme that:

a. PASCUA-SUYAT would exploit her position as the trusted

bookkeeper of Ki-Hana Nursery to gain access to the funds, accounts, credit

instruments, computers and Quickbooks accounting software of Ki-Hana Nursery.

b. Utilizing her access to the Quickbooks ·accounting software

PASCUA-SUYAT would fraudulently alter, mask and falsely represent the nature

of disbursements she was making from Ki-Hana Nursery's Bank of Hawaii

business bank account.

c. Using her position as the business record keeper of Ki-Hana

Nursery, PASCUA-SUYAT falsely represented to Ki-Hana Nursery, through her

falsification of Ki-Hana's Quickbooks record keeping software, that business funds

3
 Case 1:19-cr-00056-SOM Document 1 Filed 04/19/19 Page 4 of 7 PageID #: 4

of the nursery were required to pay legitimate company business expenses. In

truth, such funds were not required or used for the stated business expenses, but

were in fact used by PASCUA-SUYAT to: (1) pay her American Express Card

and the American Express card of her husband, S.S.; (2) pay multiple Capital One

credit cards in both her name and S.S. 's name; and (3) make mortgage payments

on her personal mortgage with Seterus Inc., a loan servicing company. Due to

PASCUA-SUYAT' s false representations and omissions of material facts from Ki-

Hana' s business records, PASCUA-SUYAT was able to secret her scheme to steal,

convert and purloin the funds of Ki-Hana without detection for at least 8 years.

Ki-Hana Nursery trusted PASCUA-SUYAT to accurately and honestly maintain

and record business credits and debits in Ki-Hana's QuickBooks accounting

software and relied upon PASCUA-SUYAT's fraudulent QuickBooks entries as

being truthful and accurate.

d. From December 2008 to October 2015, PASCUA-SUYAT

used, stole and wrongfully converted the funds of Ki-Hana Nursery to make

payments on S.S.'s American Express Card, ofwhich.PASCUA-SUYAT was an

authorized user, on 291 occasions. Over the span of her scheme, PASCUA-

SUYAT used approximately $1,120,328.32 of Ki-Hana Nursery's funds for this

purpose.

4
·- Case 1:19-cr-00056-SOM Document 1 Filed 04/19/19 Page 5 of 7 PageID #: 5

e. From February 2015 to January 2016, PASCUA-SUYAT used,

stole and wrongfully converted the funds of Ki-Hana Nursery to make payments

on her and S.S.'s personal Capital One credit cards on 112 occasions. Over the

span of her scheme, PASQUA-SUYAT used $127,549.93 of Ki-Hana Nursery's

funds for this purpose.

f. From April 2013 to December 2015, PASCUA-SUYAT used,

stole and wrongfully converted the funds of Ki-Hana Nursery to pay the mortgage

on her personal residence on 33 occasions. Over the span of her scheme,

PASCUA-SUYAT used $65,753.50 of Ki-Hana Nursery's funds for this purpose.

g. Over the course of her scheme to defraud Ki-Hana Nursery,

PASCUA-SUYAT fraudulently converted the sum of approximately

$1,313,631.75 from the BOH banking account of Ki-Hana Nursery.

WIRE COMMUNICATIONS

4. On or about each of the dates set forth below, within the District of

Hawaii, and elsewhere, the defendant, THELMA PASCUA-SUYAT, for the

purpose of executing the scheme described above, caused to be transmitted by

means of wire communication in interstate commerce the signals and sounds

described below:

5
Case 1:19-cr-00056-SOM Document 1 Filed 04/19/19 Page 6 of 7 PageID #: 6

DATE DESCRIPTION

Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) of$2,503.60 from

12/4/2008 Bank of Hawaii account. #3163 held by Ki-Hana
Nursery to S.S.'s American Express account #1007 in
Arizona.
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) of $9,898.79 from
12/21/2009 Bank of Hawaii account #3163 held by Ki-Hana
Nursery to S.S.'s American Express account #1007 in
Arizona.
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) of $10,169.09 from
1/3/2011 Bank of Hawaii account #3163 held by Ki-Hana
Nursery to S.S.'s American Express account #2005 in
Arizona.
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) of $10,062.70 from
3/3/2011 Bank of Hawaii account #3163 held by Ki-Hana
Nursery to S.S. 's American Express account #2005 in
Arizona.
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) of $11,572.81 from
7/5/2011 Bank of Hawaii account #3163 held by Ki-Hana
Nursery to S.S.'s American Express account #2005 in
Arizona.
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) of $3,000.00 from
10/21/2013 Bank of Hawaii account #3163 held by Ki-Hana
Nursery to S.S. 's American Express account #3003 in
Arizona.
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) of $1,200 from Bank
10/29/2015 of Hawaii account #3163 held by Ki-Hana Nursery to
Pascua-Suyat's Capital One account #6995 in Virginia.
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) of$2,028.75 from
2/17/2015 Bank of Hawaii account #3163 held by Ki-Hana
Nursery to Seterus Mortgage, processed in New York.
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) of$2,028.75 from
3/17/2015 Bank of Hawaii account #3163 held by Ki-Hana
Nursery to Seterus Mortgage, processed in New York.

6
 Case 1:19-cr-00056-SOM Document 1 Filed 04/19/19 Page 7 of 7 PageID #: 7

Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) of$2,028.75 from

4/20/2015 Bank of Hawaii account #3163 held by Ki-Hana
Nurse to Seterus Mortga e, rocessed in New York. ·

All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343.

DATED: A~r1 I Ir , 2019, at Honolulu, Hawaii.

~~~~~~~-tt--
. P-~--~ 1 ~AOSfl
United State A omey
District of Hawaii

KENNETH M. SORENSON
Assistant U.S. Attorney

United States v. Thelma Pascua-Suyat

INFORMATION
Cr. No.