Alston doesn't know exactly when or how the documents were stolen from the firm's high-rise offices but believes he knows who did it and why.

He says the theft was part of an extortion scheme aimed at him and real estate executive William S. Chee. The two say they have been publicly accused of "outrageous criminal acts" to "strong-arm" them into not collecting on a bad debt. Copies of stolen documents have been circulated with some of those accusations.

Alston and Chee have filed suits in state and federal courts blaming former Waikiki nightclub operator Steve Crouch and two supporters for the 1995 theft and extortion attempt, which allegedly occurred after Crouch defaulted on three real estate loans. Crouch and his supporters deny the accusations.

Chee's attorney, John Komeiji, said former Gov. George Ariyoshi, a member of Komeiji's law firm, sought the help of Big Island rancher Larry Mehau during behind-the-scene negotiations aimed at settling the dispute with Crouch. Mehau was contacted because of Crouch's association with Gabriel "Gabe" Aio, a longtime associate of Mehau's.

Alston said the theft was not discovered immediately because the documents were removed from his files, copied, and then put back in place. Court records show 836 documents totaling about 10,000 pages were taken.

Chee and Alston

Chee is president of Prudential Locations Inc., until recently the state's largest real estate firm, and is president and chairman of Resco Inc., its parent company. Alston is a director of Resco and some subsidiaries, and his law firm represents the companies. Alston and Chee are related by marriage.

Beginning in early 1993, Alston and Chee purchased $1 million in mortgage loans that Crouch and his company, MLC Inc., obtained to fund initial stages of a proposed 19-home development in Aiea Heights.

After running into delays and financial problems, Crouch defaulted on the loans, and in May 1994 Alston foreclosed.

The stolen documents relate to the Crouch loans and other business deals involving Chee and his companies, Alston said.

According to court records, dozens of the stolen documents spilled into view this year when they were included in fliers accusing Chee and Alston of numerous crimes related to the Crouch loans, including fraud, conspiracy and taking part in a money-laundering scheme linked to well-known Hawaii crime figure Jesse James Bates.

Thousands of copies of the fliers, including what purported to be a letter from Bates describing the conspiracy, were passed out on downtown street corners and at a national Prudential convention hosted by Chee at Blaisdell Center. The fliers were distributed by Nolan Crabbe, a contractor who says he is running for the 2nd Congressional District seat.

The fliers and other materials contain no evidence of money-laundering or any partnership between Bates and Chee.

"These kind of claims are so asinine they're difficult even to respond to," Chee said. "The first time they came in, I said 'this is a joke.' Now we find out they're dead serious about this stuff."

Named as defendants in the lawsuits are Crouch, Crabbe and Eric Aaron Lighter, a self-described "white-collar crime investigator" assisting Crouch.

The three men have denied responsibility for theft of the documents, and Crouch says the alleged "extortion demand" was actually a routine proposal to settle the foreclosure suit.

Lighter, who is not a lawyer, has gained a reputation in legal circles for filing more than 200,000 pages of documents in various unrelated court cases and at the Bureau of Conveyances. He has been accused of using allegations of wide-ranging conspiracies and criminal activity as weapons in other business disputes, court records show.

Lighter denies making groundless or unsubstantiated allegations.

"I am Mr. Evidence," Lighter said.

When pressed, however, Lighter appears to stop short of direct accusations and says he is merely presenting evidence that should be reviewed by a federal grand jury.

In this case, Chee said, "they're taking the documents, the attorney-client privilege things that were taken from Paul's office and spreading them all over town. When you pull them out of context, they cause tremendous business problems for us."

Chee said he has opened his company books to shareholders and employees to assure them that the allegations of criminal activities are false.

"But for a businessman, who lives by his reputation, these kind of accusations are very damaging," Chee said. "The terrible thing is that two years from now, people will say: I don't remember what it was, but I think Bill Chee was connected with counterfeit money somewhere."

Crouch, who has filed for personal and corporate bankruptcy, says he obtained copies of the stolen documents late last year when four boxes were left anonymously at his home.

Crouch says the documents show Alston and Chee conspired to put him out of business by secretly buying his mortgages at the same time their company, Prudential Locations, was the project's exclusive sales agent.

Alston rejects Crouch's allegations. "You get to the end and it's just a business deal. We loaned the guy money and he didn't pay. Now we just want to get paid."