Former Honolulu business owner Michael John Miske, Jr., who was found guilty by a federal jury last year of directing a racketeering conspiracy, was found unresponsive in his cell in Honolulu’s Federal Detention Center on the morning of December 1, 2024. At the time, he was awaiting sentencing on 13 counts from murder-for-hire and kidnapping to racketeering, assault in aid of racketeering, and obstruction of justice.

But because he died prior to sentencing and before an appeal could be pursued, his original indictments and jury convictions have now been vacated by order of Judge Derrick Watson pursuant to the legal doctrine of abatement ab initio, as if the case going back to the beginning had never happened.

This week, Miske’s death certificate was filed in court. It lists his time of death as “unknown,” but reports Miske was pronounced dead at 10:02 a.m. He was cremated on December 16, 2024 at Nuuanu Memorial Park & Mortuary, according to the death certificate.

At the time of his death, Miske was 50 years old.

Honolulu Medical Examiner Masahiko Kobayashi certified his death. No cause of death is indicated on the death certificate.

Sentencing continues for others

Meanwhile, a string of Miske associates who have previously pleaded guilty are appearing in court to be sentenced.

• Wayne Miller, 41, was sentenced on February 18 to 121 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years supervised release. The sentence represented a 1-step downward departure from sentencing guidelines because of Miller’s acceptance of responsiblity, as recommended by federal prosecutors. Judge Watson recommended he be placed in a 500-hour drug abuse treatment program, receive a mental health assessment and any necessary treatment, and also receive vocational and educational training while imprisoned.

Miller’s 121-month sentence matched the sentence of Jacob “Jake” Smith, another Miske insider who turned against his former boss.

Mike Miske once described Wayne Miller as one of his very few “true friends,” and said Miller was like a brother. When Miller was released after serving a 10-year prison sentence for the armed robbery of a windward credit union, Miske was there for him. They resumed their friendship, got together for dinner with family and friends, visited each other’s homes, and spent time at the beach, according to trial testimony.

Miller was said to have been Miske’s right-hand man for a period of time, ready to do Miske’s bidding. As part of Miske’s racketeering organization, Miller said he had been asked to arrange for several people to be assaulted, even murdered. At Miske’s direction, Miller and another man kidnapped and assaulted an accountant while trying to extort nearly $1 million he was believed to have set aside from a business deal. Miller admitted to buying and selling drugs, and was briefly arrested in California after a major cocaine deal was broken up before the drugs could be flown back to Hawaii. Miller testified Miske had put up cash to finance the attempted drug buy.

In 2016, Miller began a series of life-threatening surgeries for a heart condition. When his post-surgery use of pain killers later spiraled down into opioid addiction, his bond of friendship with Miske was broken. Although Miller tried to regain Miske’s trust, Miske told others that he was “done” with Miller.

Busted on other charges, Miller eventually cut a deal and agreed to plead guilty to racketeering conspiracy, and provided key information prosecutors used in their prosecution of Miske.

Miller began cooperating with the DEA and FBI in 2017 and eventually became one of the key prosecution witnesses in Miske’s trial, spending more than four days on the witness stand.

• John Blane Kenui Stancil, 37, Miske’s half-brother, was sentenced on February 12 to 240-months (20 years) in federal prison. He had pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy on the morning he had been scheduled to stand trial with his older brother. Twenty years is the maximum sentence for racketeering conspiracy, and the longest sentence given to any of the Miske associates so far.

The court recommended Stancil be placed at Safford FCI (1st choice), Terminal Island FCI (2nd choice) or Phoenix FCI (3rd choice). Like other Miske defendants, the court also recommended he be placed in a 500-hour drug and substance abuse treatment program.

In his plea agreement with prosecutors, Stancil admitted to taking part in a murder-for-hire scheme targeting a Waimanalo man Miske believed was providing information to law enforcement about Miske’s criminal activities. He also admitted to taking part is a series of assaults, sometimes serving as driver for others who actually committed the assaults. Stancil was also credited with recruiting Jake Smith to be on call to commit assaults at Miske’s direction. Smith and Stancil were friends and would often just hang out together.

Stancil was also took part in a series of incidents in which chloropicrin, a chemical used in termite treatment, was released on the dance floors of several nightclubs that competed with the M Nighclub owned by Miske, which later operated under the name, Encore.

Stancil was involved in a series of armed robberies of drug dealers in which drugs and other valuables, such as gold chains, were taken, and took part in the assault and attempted robbery of the owner of Aloha Tattoo in Kailua in which one of the assailants was fatally stabbed.

• Ashlin Akau, 33, was sentenced to two years in federal prison for her role in a chemical attack on the Ginza nightclub in 2017. Watson recommended she be placed at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu or at a camp located on the West Coast.

She had been recruited to participate in the Ginza attack by Jake Smith, with whom she was in a romantic relationship at the time. Smith organized two chemical attacks on successive nights against nightclubs competing with Miske’s Encore nightclub. Akau also admitted she had helped set up the armed robbery of a dealer who supplied drugs to her former husband. The dealer’s car was stopped in Kalihi by several Miske associates, who took 5-pounds of methamphetamine or “ice” that they later split up for resale.

In a letter submitted to the court, Akau said she had been trapped in an emotional, mental, and physically abusive marriage to Ramzey Scanlan, a multiple felon. She said she was constantly threatened, abused, and living in fear, but fled after the birth of her son in 2015.

However, leaving a relationship like that is never easy. The constant threats and showing up to where my son and I were, dragging me down the beach in broad day light in front of women and children are just a couple daily worries. Cops could never find him but somehow, he would always find me. Living in fear, my son and I would go from house to house praying he wouldn’t find us. I had nothing. No money, no food, no will to live except my son. I started to drink, and smoke weed as a crutch to help me get through life and calm my anxiety.

One day I was sitting in my car by myself in front of a bar waiting for my friends where I was approached by 10 plus grown men who knew who I was and offered to “protect me” after seeing my black eye from my husband. At the time I felt like it was a God sent. That I could finally be safe and go to sleep at night. Not realizing in the long run, I ended up worse off.

The group included Norman Akau, a founder of the Nakipi Motorcycle Club in Kaneohe, one of Miske’s co-defendants, and a cousin of Ashlin’s father. Norman Akau introduced her to Jake Smith, Lance Bermudez (another Miske co-defendant), and others, who she then assisted in a variety of crimes.

Following the attack on the Ginza nightclub, Ashlin Akau said she felt “guilt and pain” about her role, and again felt trapped. This time, though, she spoke with her father, and then went to authorities and offered to tell them what she knew about Miske and the group around Nakipi. She apparently provided key information that strengthened the case against the Miske Enterprise.

Subsequently, Akau appears to have turned her life around. She earned a certificate as a “laser specialist” from a Colorado school and has been employed in that capacity since. Both her current and former employers submitted strong reference letters to the court prior to her sentencing. Akau also passed the real estate exam last month and was licensed as a real estate salesperson, state records show. With her conviction and sentencing, her license is currently listed on “inactive” status.