Ex-broker indicted in identity theft
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
A former Honolulu securities broker was indicted by an O'ahu grand jury yesterday for allegedly stealing the identity of a Honolulu man and using it to gain control $531,000 worth of cash and stocks.
Shawn B. McKay was indicted on 11 felony charges including identity theft, fraud, forgery, theft and money laundering. His alleged accomplice, Ching Hui Wang, who also goes by Candy Wang and Candy McKay, was indicted on identity theft, attempted theft and money laundering charges.
Bail was set at $500,000 for McKay and $50,000 for Wang, both of whom are believed to be on the Mainland.
City deputy prosecutor Randal Lee said McKay is accused of collecting personal information about the victim while working for a Honolulu investment firm where the victim had an account.
Lee said McKay allegedly used the information to open an account under the victim's name at a different investment firm.
Lee said that unbeknownst to McKay, the victim also had an account at the second investment firm. When the second firm was preparing to send some information to the victim about his accounts, a computer alerted company officials that each of the accounts listed a different home address.
When the second firm called the man to see if he wanted the information from both accounts sent to his "new address," the man said he had no new address nor had he opened a second account, Lee said.
The incident happened in July and August of last year and investigators were able to move quickly enough to recover all of the victim's cash and stock holdings, Lee said. Because the value of the stock dropped about $12,000 while it was outside of the victim's control, the investment firm from which it was transferred made up for the loss, Lee said.
It does not appear that any of the firm's other accounts were tampered with, Lee said.
He said the incident should serve as a warning to people who trust investment companies implicitly that they need to keep tabs on their holdings to make sure nothing has gone awry.
Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.
