THE LAWSUITS ABOUND

The Ronald Rewald case is actually more than a dozen criminal and civil suits filed in the months since the August, 1983, collapse of the Bishop, Baldwin, Rewald, Dillingham & Wong investment firm. In addition to his 100-count federal criminal indictment, Rewald faces Hawaii state “theft by deception” charges and a number of civil actions arising out of the Bishop, Baldwin bankruptcy.

A strict gag order bars Rewald from talking with reporters about the CIA or his criminal case.

Rewald, 42, who now lives in a rented home in the elegant Hancock Park district of Los Angeles, has brought his own legal actions totaling in the hundreds of millions of dollars. All of Rewald’s suits are pending.

In February, 1984, Rewald filed a $671-million claim in federal court against the CIA, charging that the intelligence agency set up and controlled Rewald’s firm.

In March, 1984, Rewald sued Bishop, Baldwin bankruptcy administrator Thomas E. Hayes in Hawaii state court for $150 million. The suit alleges that Hayes defamed Rewald, invaded his privacy, held him up to false light and negligently and intentionally inflicted serious mental distress.

Time Inc., which owns Money magazine, faces a $10-million suit that Rewald filed in March, 1984. Rewald claims that Money libeled and slandered him in a December, 1983, article.

On April 15, 1985, in federal court in Honolulu, Rewald filed a $12-million defamation action against Honolulu TV station KHON. Named in the suit are reporters Barbara Tanabe and Richard Borreca, as well as local anchorman Joe Moore.