{"data":{"id":"us-hi/haw.-rev.-stat.-708-873","jurisdiction":"us-hi","citation":"Haw. Rev. Stat. § 708-873","heading":"Defrauding secured creditors.","body":"(1) A person commits the offense of defrauding secured creditors if the person destroys, removes, conceals, encumbers, transfers, or otherwise deals with property subject to a security interest with intent to hinder enforcement of that interest.\n\n(2) Defrauding secured creditors is a misdemeanor. [L 1972, c 9, pt of §1; gen ch 1993]\n\nCOMMENTARY ON §708-873\n\nThe sections dealing with theft are framed in terms of appropriation of property of another; however, a security interest does not make the secured party an owner and the property, by reason of the security interest alone, is not the property of another.[1] It is necessary, therefore, to provide separate penalties for \"debtors or conditional vendees who dispose of property subject to a security interest in ways that may prejudice the secured creditor.\"[2] The requisite culpability is intent to hinder enforcement of the security interest; innocent potential hindering of such interest, such as the temporary removal of a secured chattel from the County or State, ought not to be made subject to criminal sanctions.[3]\n\nThe penalty provided is a misdemeanor, regardless of the amount involved. This differs somewhat from the theft offenses. This difference reflects the fact that generally offenders against a secured interest \"are less dangerously deviated from social norms than outright thieves who take property to which they have no claim.\"[4] Moreover, in those cases where the actor intended, at the time the actor undertook the security obligation, to violate the terms thereof, felony penalties will be available under the theft provisions.[5]","path":["HI Code","Division 5","Title 37","Chapter 708"],"source_url":"http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0708/HRS_0708-0873.htm","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:11Z","sha256":"bbd5c0336dcc8ffb74102bd33fc16d064a14bc7023f7528c9652175924fe21eb","source_id":"us-hi","stale":false,"prev":"us-hi/haw.-rev.-stat.-708-872","next":"us-hi/haw.-rev.-stat.-708-874"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}