Several people have asked how Mike Miske’s is paying his team of highly talented and high-priced attorneys, since records show his personal and business bank accounts were frozen at the time of his arrest and indictment.

In addition to attorneys’ fees, the property tax on his two Oahu homes is paid and up to date.

One possibility is that rental income from his properties are covering some or all of these bills.

But this is complicated. The federal government has filed notices that it intends to seek forfeiture of both properties if Miske is convicted.

Elliot Enoki, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Honolulu, declined to comment on Miske’s situation.

However, “as a general matter, disposition of income or other proceeds generated from property subject to forfeiture is often resolved later in the proceeding since it is dependent at least to some degree on a conviction,” Enoki said.

Miske’s large 8,206 sf house overlooking the ocean at Portlock could yield significant rental income.

A nearby home with a similar oceanfront location is advertised for rent at upwards of $100,000 per month, with a second nearby home asking almost that much.

Miske’s house was rented by Sony Pictures in 2021 for the filming of an Amazon series based on the 1997 movie, “I know what you did last summer.”

As I wrote in a 2021 blog post:

How much Sony is paying for use of the house, which sits on more than 3/4 acre on Lumahai Street in the Portlock area, overlooking Spitting Cave, is not known. Federal prosecutors have already declared the Lumahai house as one of several properties they will seek to seize if Miske is convicted, because it was allegedly built using illegal profits from Miske’s racketeering organization.

It isn’t really surprising that Miske might still have friends in the movie business. He was reported to be a member of the Teamsters Local representing drivers for movie and television productions, as were co-defendants John Stancil (Miske’s half-brother) and Harry Kauhi, while Norman Akau, another co-defendant in the racketeering case, was at the time of their arrests listed as a board member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE Local 665), representing stage hands on movie sets and other venues. In addition, Miske was a former business partner and associate of Jon T. Dahl, a self-described “Transportation Captain” on features and TV shows, and owner of two equipment and truck rental companies serving the movie industry.

And there are rumors the property is now being offered as a luxury vacation rental with a six-figure monthly rate.

Others have speculated that Miske has other cash stashed away that he can draw on, but given the intense federal scrutiny and the ongoing investigation, that seems unlikely at this point, at least in my view.