BY JIM DOOLEY – A second defendant in the federal government’s Waikiki extortion case was ordered held without
bail Thursday.
Tory Winward, 44, is alleged to have beaten one executive of the Shack Waikiki and intimidated another into surrendering his ownership shares to Winward.
Winward was arrested by federal agents Monday along with co-defendants Curtis Swanson, 44, and Jesse Yoshino, 30.
In a hearing Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Chang denied Winward any opportunity to post bail, ruling that the defendant is a danger to the community.
Winward was represented by well-known private defense attorney Michael Green.
Based on a personal financial affidavit which Winward filed following his arrest, he was ruled eligible for a court-appointed defense lawyer.
But Green appeared for him at the detention hearing and Winward’s original attorney, federal Deputy Public Defender Donna Gray, withdrew from the case.
According to civil suits filed against the bar-restaurant in state court, Winward was an original eight per cent minority owner of the Shack Waikiki.
Majority owner Andrew Lindberg said in one of the suits that Winward was a longtime patron of another Shack outlet Lindberg controlled in Hawaii Kai. That acquaintance led to Winward’s original investment in the Waikiki venture, Lindberg said.
In a sworn affidavit filed in the federal criminal case, FBI Special Agent Joe Yum said Lindberg surrendered his 51 per cent interest in the business last year because “he felt he was forced by Winward to leave the business partnership without receiving any compensation for his share.”
The shares were transferred to Winward Consulting, a business operated by Winward’s wife Sharon, Yum’s affidavit said.
Lindberg, who is identified by his initials in Yum’s affidavit, “feared for his physical safety and for the safety of his family,” Yum said.
The Shack Waikiki has been repeatedly investigated and cited by the Honolulu Liquor Commission for a variety of infractions, including acts of violence committed by bar bouncers against patrons.
It has been sued multiple times by patrons who claim they were assaulted and injured by bouncers without provocation.
One suit, filed by a Seattle man, was recently settled and dismissed. Terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed.
The bar is also being sued by families of passengers who died in a high-speed car crash on the Likelike Highway in 2009.
The driver of the car, James Krzywonski, was highly intoxicated and had been drinking at the Shack Waikiki before he drove his car at more than 100 miles per hour into a concrete abutment at the Wilson Tunnel, according to the civil court suits.
The Shack Waikiki has denied liability in the suits filed against it.