Sia's bail revoked as he awaits sentencing
By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer
Federal Judge David Ezra yesterday revoked $1.5 million bail posted by developer and former Bank of Honolulu chairman Sukamto Sia and ordered him detained to await sentencing in a bankruptcy fraud case March 21.
Ezra granted a request by federal prosecutors to revoke Sia's bail. Ezra said a factor in his decision was that Sia, 43, is not a U.S. citizen and continues to have significant financial resources, even though he filed for bankruptcy in 1998. Those two factors combined with the fact Sia is awaiting sentencing in the bankruptcy case make him much more of a flight risk now than in the past, Ezra said.
Assistant U.S. attorneys Mark Rectenwald and Craig Nakamura sought to have Sia's bail revoked after they learned that police were called to a home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles Feb. 12 when Sia's long-time girlfriend Kelly Randall placed a 911 call.
Randall hung up before dispatchers could talk to her. Two Los Angeles police officers who went to the home on Moraga Drive, and who testified yesterday at Sia's bail revocation hearing, said Randall first said Sia slapped her three or four times but later recanted after being told Sia was going to be arrested on suspicion of domestic battery. That case was not prosecuted.
Ezra yesterday said he was revoking Sia's bail not because of the domestic battery allegations, but because Sia lied to the police officers Feb. 12, telling them he had never been arrested before and that an electronic monitoring device permanently attached to his wrist was merely a watch.
Sia pleaded guilty in October to bankruptcy and wire fraud charges as part of an agreement with federal prosecutors to dismiss 18 other felony charges.
Sia admitted that he participated in a scheme to defraud the Bank of Honolulu by obtaining illegal loans that went to Sia or companies he controlled. The bank was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in October 2000.
Sia is scheduled to be sentenced March 21, and could face up to 40 months in a federal prison and fines of up to $1.5 million.
