Ex-legislator's trial again postponed

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

A trial for former state Rep. Nathan Suzuki on federal tax fraud charges that was supposed to have begun today has been put off for at least 3 1/2 months.

Suzuki, 55, a Democrat who represented the Salt Lake and Moanalua areas, was indicted in June 2002 on three counts of filing false income tax returns and two counts of failing to disclose an interest in a foreign bank account on his tax returns. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

He originally was scheduled to go to trial in November 2002, but that date was pushed back to February 2003. The February date was later reset for today, but the trial was postponed again last week until Nov. 4 at the request of Suzuki's lawyer, Michael Green.

Green filed a memo in federal court requesting the extension because he has an ongoing case in state court, is lead counsel in a case set to begin Aug. 15 on Guam and is lead counsel for a case set to begin in federal court in Honolulu on Sept. 16.

Green replaced attorney Robert Klein, who represented Suzuki until Aug. 1, 2002.

The charges against Suzuki are related to the work he did for Michael Boulware, head of a coffee distribution and vending machine business in Hawai'i.

Boulware was sentenced in May to four years and three months in prison after being convicted of tax evasion and bank fraud conspiracy charges.