A federal grand in Honolulu has indicted former Honolulu prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro and four executives of the engineering firm of Mitsunaga and Associates for conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and federal program bribery. The indictment was handed down on June 2, 2022, but not unsealed until today following Kaneshiro’s arrest.
The five defendants are scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 this afternoon.
A copy of the 20-page federal indictment is attached below.
Indictment: USA v. Keith Mitsuyoshi Kaneshiro et al, US District Court, Honolulu by Ian Lind on Scribd
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Can we have our money back for Kaneshiros paid leave from the city?
Seems bad but relatively manini. Lots more smoke where that fire came from. And somebody needs to put ol’ DM in perspective, having lots of tentacles and having been a chief fundraiser/bagman for a couple of governors and all.
Kirk, You better watch out
Kirk, You better not cry
Kirk, You better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
He’s making a list
He’s checking it twice
He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice
Santa Claus is coming to town.
And Kirk you’ve been very naughty!
Except this is the exact opposite. Mitsunaga was the sworn enemy of Caldwell and spent thousands on super PACs attacking Caldwell. If anything this clears one of the roadblocks for Caldwell’s return. And make Cayetano’s candidacy pau.
Caldwell’s return: wishful thinking?
Hope I never see that guy’s face or hear his name ever again. But Hawaii – land of the zombie politicians – being what it is, that’ll surely not happen.
Seems like Kaneshiro and his henchman Vernon Branco are the Keystone Kops of Honolulu with unsuccessful malicious prosecutions of the ex Mitsunaga employee and celebrity game room operator Tracy Yoshimura!
There are a lot of layers to this onion. It will be interesting as they are peeled off.
So much more to tell.
How can someone allow themselves to get involved in something as obviously wrong as that? Especially when they know the law that well and swore to uphold higher principles?
Greed? Hubris? Too much power? Too long in office?
I guess The Other Cayetano won’t be counting on the Old Boy Extraordinaire this election season… Good time to distance oneself from All That enjoyed by him and certain significant others…
This news made my day. It really did.
I’m not sure what the truth is, or if we’ll ever know, but Mitsunaga has been loudly whispered about forever as the guy who controlled illegal campaign fundraising in Honolulu for decades and could shut down government contractors who didn’t chip in. We do know that illegal campaign money helped propel his good friend Ben Cayetano to victory (yes, his campaign DID receive lots of illegal campaign contributions, and that’s a documented fact, no matter how much some people cry “smear” over those stupid attack ads), helped Mazie Hirono (though for some reason everyone gave her a pass and still does), but destroyed Jeremy Harris when it all hit the fan just when Harris was a front-runner for governor twenty years ago. Mitsunaga went on to be a fundraiser for Neil Abercrombie, who after victory promptly appointed Mitsunaga’s daughter to the Hawaii Community Development Authority board just as Kakaako was taking off. None of this is a secret. A sitting prosecutor who knows this town at all and ever claimed to be tough on corruption should never have even been talking to this guy, much less taking his money and doing his bidding, if that’s indeed what really happened. This one will be fun to watch.
MAYOR Harris was possibly in favor of Bus Rapid Transit rather than rail, if my memory is correct.
Remember when Dennis Mitsunaga named names in the UH contracting scandal it was very revealing on the corruption that goes on in Hawaii.
Remember that the AG investigated at UH’s request and concluded that Mits was full of it.
Translation: UH didn’t hand over the loot fast enough so Mits tried to show who the real boss was. And failed. Talk about pots and kettles…