I’ve been trying to understand what this latest twist in the ongoing federal corruption probe that first hit the Honolulu Police Department, with indictments of the former chief, his wife, and several officers in an elite HPD unit, then targeted the elected city prosecutor’s office, and now the city’s top lawyer, Corporation Counsel Donna Leong, a member of the mayor’s cabinet.
Leong’s attorney confirmed she has received a “target letter”, indicating she is a target of a grand jury investigation, and characterized the grand jury’s interest as related to the $250,000 severance payment negotiated with former Police Chief Louis Kealoha, in addition to his full retirement benefits. At the time the payment was approved, the chief and his wife were under federal investigation but had not yet been charged with any crime.
So my question is simple: What aspect of the payment, or negotiations regarding the payment, would rise to the level of a federal crime?
Obviously, most potential things that come to mind would involve city or state laws, rather than federal.
Federal corruption probes in other jurisdictions have typically involved “pay to play” transactions, corruption of procurement processes, cash payoffs, etc.
So what about the chief’s severance package could be of interest to the federal grand jury?
It’s been suggested that breaking the payment into smaller parts to avoid additional scrutiny by the city council was a problem. But what would make that a federal criminal problem?
Perhaps there’s a simple explanation. Perhaps Leong was less than truthful in interviews with investigators, or during an appearance before the grand jury, if indeed she has previously testified. The Kealoha’s and their co-defendants face obstruction charges involving false testimony presented to the grand jury or in other settings. It’s one way that this could become a federal case.
What else might be going on? Another possibility that occurs to me, pure speculation, of course, is that there was more to the severance payment than simply trying to prevent a future lawsuit by the chief. If there were other goals, perhaps keeping the lid on information that could political problems for the administration, this might not be considered a legitimate use of city funds. But even in that case, what makes it a federal case? Or, if the payments to the chief came out of the police department’s budget, as has been reported, did that transfer run afoul of some federal strings on federal funds buried in the department budget?
I’m stumped. I really have no idea of how this controversial but seemingly simple transaction gives rise to potential federal criminal charges against the city corp counsel. Perhaps others can suggest reasonable scenarios of how federal criminal laws could have been implicated.
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Why don’t you get an opinion from attourney Michael Green. He stated early on the federal net was going to go wider and further.
Easy answer: Wait and see. No need to speculate.
Good questions. Speculation is fully warranted and should be expected in this information vacuum and quite apparently far-less-than-candid atmosphere.
Conspiracy?
False statements?
Obstruction?
Aiding and abetting?
A serious misunderstanding or prosecutorial overreach?
Will taxpayers be paying for the defense?
Will anyone else be implicated? The mayor? It seems very unlikely that he was not directly involved in authorizing the very unusual quarter million dollar payout, which some have described as a payoff. But does that rise to criminal conduct?
Is the segmentation of the payment key? Or the strange pay-it-back-if-convicted provision?
Incidentally, Hawaii News Now appeared to catch the mayor in a clear misstatement, if not a lie, regarding why he took 11 days to publicly acknowledge the target letter. He said the gap was to provide time to lawyer up, which was allegedly accomplished a week earlier than he claimed.
It all looks very, very bad for everyone involved. And it looks even worse for Kaneshiro, for so many reasons.
Sad times for Honolulu all around.
Well, this all started with a mailbox incident, remember? Maybe that gives federal prosecutors the toehold they need. LOL
I thought it would be issues relating to the Family Justice Center acquisition.
Caldwell does not appear to be precluded from divulging whether Leong testified before the grand jury. He surely knows.
If she did, a charge relating to alleged false statements would seem plausible and explain the federal jurisdiction. If not, the plot may have somehow thickened.
The lack of media follow-up on this is astounding.
I’m also stumped because her sole role was to advise the Police Commission on its legal power to approve the money.
You’d think the person of interest would be Max Sword, then the commission chairman and the main proponent of paying Kealoha the $250,000.
Some of you reporters from “old days” would have been on this like bloodhounds not that many years ago, so I agree with two cents. The silence is deafening. All and any of the above are possible answers – maybe more than one. Misappropriation seems like a possibility with the parceled payments. Maybe some came from a federal funds cookie jar not even associated with HPD? All speculation, but it passes time while we wait.