Salesman Blocked From Targeting The Elderly

BY JIM DOOLEY – A Circuit Judge is ordering businessman Daniel Doi to permanently stop selling insurance or financial products, citing the possibility of “irreparable harm” to the public and particularly the elderly.

Doi has been targeted in past legal complaints by state regulators and the Attorney General’s office.

Judge Virginia Crandall granted the state’s request to permanently enjoin Doi from providing or selling prepaid legal service plans, annuities, reverse mortgages “or any other type of financial planning, insurance or trust documents.”

Attorney General David Louie’s office sought the injunction after complaints to regulators about Doi’s continuing attempts to sell financial products to elderly customers.

One complaint came from a Washington D.C. woman who learned that Doi was trying to sell her elderly aunt in Hawaii financial services.

“When my aunt told me the story of what Mr. Doi was doing, I immediately Googled his name and up popped a 2010 story in Hawaii Reporter about him,” Liz Pierotti said in an interview earlier this year.

The story concerned a legal complaint filed against Doi by the Attorney General’s office that alleged he was engaged in the unauthorized sales of legal service plans and that his sales activities “deceived elderly consumers.”

Pierotti said her 85-year-old aunt told her Doi visited her home “several times” and offered to sell her products involving “Medicaid eligibility” and “asset protections trusts,”  eventually convincing her to pay him $15,000 “for what he said were legal fees.”

“She wrote him a check, he cashed it and then he wanted her to take money out of her reverse mortgage account and put it in a different account,” Pierotti said.

“My aunt called the mortgage company to withdraw the funds, but they questioned her about the withdrawal and said it didn’t sound right,” Pierotti continued.

“My aunt called me and that’s when I researched Mr. Doi. I called him and said I wanted him to refund the money to my aunt because I was going to contact the authorities about what he was doing,” she said.

“He did refund the money, which had been paid to a company called Kupuna Group, Inc.,” she said.

“I think what he is doing is outrageous. The elderly are easy prey and are reluctant to come forward when they’ve been victimized,” Pierotti said.

According to court records, Judge Crandall ruled October 30 that she was issuing an injunction against Doi because of his history of past violastions and his “continuing efforts to solicit business from elderly customers.”

The final written order from Crandall has not been issued yet. Deputy Attorney General C. Bryan Fitzgerald, who represented the state, said he would reserve comment on the case until the written injunction is finalized.

Doi’s attorney, Randall Char, could not be reached for comment.

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