Uniqlo billionaire Tadashi Yanai’s firm sues Maui landowner

A company owned by Japanese billionaire Tadashi Yanai, the founder of Uniqlo, has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Maui Land & Pineapple Co. of fraud and racketeering over water charges at the Kapalua resort in Hawaii, escalating a long fight over who controls West Maui’s water.

TY Management Corp., which owns the two golf courses at Kapalua, alleges that the NYSE-listed landowner and two of its executives doctored budget records to pass off repairs and capital projects as routine maintenance, so the costs could be billed to the golf courses through higher water rates. Under the agreements signed when Yanai’s company bought the courses from Maui Land & Pineapple in 2009 and 2010, the landowner can charge customers for operating and maintaining the water system but not for repairs or capital improvements.

Maui Land & Pineapple rejected the claims and said the suit was an attempt to force it to hand over its water system. “We believe this lawsuit is simply another effort to pressure MLP into transferring the system to him,” the company said in a statement. “We refuse to be bullied by a billionaire who seeks control of the system while refusing to pay his fair share of the costs to maintain it.” It said the claims lack merit and that it will defend against them.

Claims of relabeled repairs

The complaint, filed in federal court on Oct. 14, names Maui Land & Pineapple, Chief Executive Officer Race Randle, former vice president Kainoa Casco, and Hawaii Water Service, the contractor that runs the Honokohau Ditch System for the company. It alleges wire fraud and a racketeering conspiracy under the federal RICO law.

The suit cites a May 2025 email in which Casco allegedly asked staff to change entries labeled “Corrective Maintenance” or “Repairs” to deferred maintenance, edits the complaint calls “textbook financial fraud.” It also points to a $35,000 project to replace boards on an intake bridge that was recorded as bridge maintenance. TY Management estimates it was overcharged at least $447,000 in 2025 alone.

The rate the golf courses pay rose more than 300% between January 2025 and January 2026, to $2.15 per thousand gallons from about 49 cents, the suit says. TY Management is seeking unspecified damages, repayment of the excess charges and a court order to stop the billing practices. Geoff Fulks, general manager of Hawaii Water Service, said the utility had not been served and would “vigorously defend” itself.

A long fight over West Maui water

The case is the latest in a string of disputes between the two companies. In August 2025, TY Management and other Kapalua-area plaintiffs sued Maui Land & Pineapple, claiming it failed to maintain the ditch system and cut off irrigation water from Honokohau Stream. The landowner blamed a historic drought and filed a counterclaim. A second suit from Yanai’s company challenges the annexation of land into the Kapalua Resort Association. Both cases are still pending.

The water shortages hit Yanai’s Kapalua Plantation Course, which forced the PGA Tour to cancel its 2026 season-opening tournament there. Yanai’s company later pledged $750,000 to Maui nonprofits.

Maui Land & Pineapple, which owns about 22,000 acres on the island, signed a non-binding agreement with Maui County in May for the county to buy the Honokohau Ditch System, wells and other water assets in West Maui. The price has not been set, and the deal needs approval from the County Council.

Yanai, 77, built Fast Retailing Co., Uniqlo’s parent, from his father’s small clothing shop in western Japan into one of the world’s largest apparel retailers. He is Japan’s richest person, with a fortune of $61.8 billion on Forbes’ 2026 world billionaires list.