October retrial set in $66M fraud case

By B.J. Reyes
Associated Press

A federal judge has set a new trial in October for an O'ahu woman whose conviction on charges of bilking more than $66 million from 5,000 people in Hawai'i, American Samoa and the Mainland was overturned earlier this month.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on June 13 ordered a new trial for Montez Salamasina Ottley of La'ie, saying U.S. District Judge Manuel Real should have allowed her to serve as her own counsel at trial.

Yesterday, Ottley again expressed her desire to represent herself in court proceedings and fired her court appointed counsel.

In a 10-minute tirade against Real, prosecutors, the U.S. court system and even the U.S. Constitution, Ottley demanded that she be released, citing the 9th Circuit's opinion that the conviction be "reversed and remanded" for a new trial.

"Reverse means to annul, to get rid of," she said.

After the new trial date was set, Ottley continued her rant, saying she had been "raped mentally" by the proceedings. She brandished a Bible and called Scripture the only law she answers to.

"I'm here to tell you I'm going to walk out of here today," she said moments before Real had her led out of court by sheriff's deputies.

She remains in federal custody without bail, which has to be requested by a defendant's legal counsel. Because she demanded to act as her own attorney and her behavior got her tossed out of court, she was unable to make the motion to request bail.

In February, a federal jury found Ottley guilty of mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy charges for orchestrating a "Cayman Island Investment Program." She was also convicted on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Ottley's program promised an 8 percent profit in 13 weeks in exchange for a minimum investment of $1,000, prosecutors said.