On Tuesday, a post here described a whistleblower complaint targeting the Public Utilities Commission’s Chair, Leo Asuncion, and Chief of Policy and Research, Randy Baldemor (“Whistleblower Complaint Targets Top Officials at the Public Utilities Commission”). The complaint came to light in a packet of background materials submitted for a State Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection hearing held that morning, chaired by Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole (D, District 24 – Kailua-Kaneohe).

Most of the hearing focused on the PUC’s performance-based regulation system, but Civil Beat’s Stewart Yerton reported on the brief discussion of the whistleblower allegations (“State Utility Official Under Investigation For Bullying Staff, Toxic Environment”).

“Discussion of the whistleblower complaint came and went in minutes,” Yerton noted.

His story recounts a short, scripted exchange between Sen. Keohokalole and Chair Asuncion. But the senator’s questions appeared address only a few sentences of the 6-page, single-spaced complaint, and they narrowly avoided the actual content even of this small piece.

Here’s what the letter alleged:

“At the PUC’s annual holiday party in December 2024, Chair Leo Asuncion announced that his friend, Randy Baldemor, would be the new Chief of Policy and Research—the top technical and policy advisor for the three Commissioners. Leo told everyone that Randy also lives in Hawaii Kai and they barbeque together with HECO executives.”

During the hearing, Keohokalole asked whether Asuncion had, as PUC chair, attended events hosted by HECO executives, been to their homes, or accepted food or drink from them. Asuncion denied each.

From Yerton’s Civil Beat story:

“In fairness,” Keohokalole said, “I want to provide you opportunity to be asked and answer whether during your tenure as PUC chair you have ever attended functions hosted by executives or employees of Hawaiian Electric.”

“I have not,” Asuncion said.

“As chair, have you ever been to the home of an employee or executive of a regulated utility?” the senator asked.

“I have not,” Asuncion said.

“Have HECO executives or executives of any other entity that’s regulated by your commission ever paid for food, drinks or hosted events that you attended while you were chair,” Keohokalole asked.

“No,” the PUC chair said.

But the complaint doesn’t allege any of those things. It doesn’t say the barbecues were “hosted” by HECO, or that they occurred while Asuncion was chair, or that executives paid for anything. The senator’s questions reframe the allegations, then steer around them.

A simple tweak to one question could have gotten closer to the heart of the issue:

“I want to provide you the opportunity to be asked and answer whether during your tenure as PUC chair you have ever attended social functions hosted also attended by executives or employees of Hawaiian Electric.”

That version tracks the actual allegation more directly — and might have produced a different answer.

Other relevant questions weren’t asked at all. For instance:

* Did you attend the PUC’s annual holiday party in December 2024?
* Did you announce Randy Baldemor as the new chief of policy and research?
* Did you describe him as a friend?
* Did you mention that you both live in Hawaii Kai?
* Did you say that you “barbeque together with HECO executives”?

Asuncion previously worked at HECO as a senior regulatory and planning analyst for six years before joining state government and ultimately the PUC in 2019. It’s entirely plausible that he formed lasting personal and professional relationships. But that’s precisely why clear, unambiguous questions — and answers — are essential.

In the end, it will fall to investigators to pursue the facts and evaluate whether the whistleblower’s claims have merit. That task will carry political pressures of its own. But public confidence in regulatory independence depends on asking questions that illuminate — not obscure — the truth.

We about ready to check out of our hotel and walk the two short blocks to Portland’s Max light rail, where $1.40 cents apiece gets us right to the airport for our flight home.

We’ve been getting cat photos from our cat sitter, and we’re looking forward to being greeted by lonely when we arrive home this evening.

The very slow recovery of downtown Portland is illustrated by a new business on the corner of SW Broadway and Alder, just a half block from our hotel, where the former location of Public Domain Coffee has been sitting boarded up for more than three years. A new business has scheduled a grand opening for tomorrow, June 6. Many large street level commercial spaces are still empty, but smaller businesses are moving in other locations, giving at least a sense of progress.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling requiring former MMA fighter and Defend Hawaii owner, Michael Buntenbah, to forfeit a $250,000 mortgage on his Kaneohe home.

Michael Buntenbah, 53, pleaded guilty in 2022 to conspiring with others to commit assault in aid of racketeering as part of the criminal organization directed by the late Michael J. Miske Jr.

Buntenbah was part of a shadow group of bouncers or security staff at Miske’s M Nightclub in downtown Honolulu who wore the same black uniforms as the official club staff, but worked off the books providing strong-arm services to Miske on request. He was involved in several assaults in and around the nightclub between 2012 and 2016.

Buntenbah was originally arrested along with Miske and nine other co-defendants in July 2020. He was released on a $500,000 bond in September 2020, but the amount was reduced to $250,000 by Judge Derrick Watson in May 2022.

However, Buntenbah was rearrested and his release on bond revoked in January 2024 after he led an unprovoked assault on several men in a Waikiki restaurant, which was captured on video. He was accompanied in the assault by several men, including one of his sons, who had been named the third party custodian responsible for assuring Buntenbah abided by the terms of his release.

Following the assault, Judge Watson ordered that Buntenbah forfeit the $250,000 mortgage that had been put as security when he had been released.

Buntenbah’s attorney, Michigan-based Gary Springstead, appealed Watson’s ruling to the 9th Circuit.

It was submitted on May 21, 2025 to a three-judge panel made up of Senior Circuit Judge Barry G. Silverman, and Circuit Judges Kenneth K. Lee and Lawrence VanDyke, who quickly decided the case was suitable for decision on the basis of the written court filings and without further oral argument.

In the appeal, Springstead argued that Watson “abused his discretion” when he refused to lift the bond forfeiture. The appeal argues that he gave to much weight to certain factors while minimizing those that might have weighed in Buntenbah’s favor.

However, in a brief 2-page ruling filed Wednesday, May 28, the panel unanimously rejected the appeal and affirmed Watson’s forfeiture ruling.

The substance of the ruling is brief enough to quote in full.

The record reflects that the district court considered and appropriately weighed the Nguyen factors, which were discussed extensively by the parties. The court’s focus on the willfulness and “egregiousness” of Buntenbah’s conduct was justified by Buntenbah’s arguments and the nature of the violation. Given the aggravating circumstances of the breach, the court did not abuse its discretion in declining to set aside any portion of the forfeited bond, notwithstanding that some factors may have weighed in Buntenbah’s favor. See United States v. Stanley, 601 F.2d 380, 382 (9th Cir. 1979) (the district court did not abuse its “wide discretion” by failing to set aside forfeiture even though the defendant “made all required court appearances and there was no showing of specific prejudice, cost, or inconvenience to the Government resulting from [his] breach”); see also Nguyen, 279 F.3d at 1117 (“[A] bond functions like liquidated damages in that it must be reasonable when set; it need not necessarily approximate the actual costs of breach.”).

After several delays, Buntenbah was sentenced to 36-months in federal prison, the maximum for the conspiracy in aid of racketeering charge. He is serving his sentence at the Honolulu Federal Detention Center. With credit for time served, he is scheduled for release on May 24, 2026.

This photo was taken at a high school graduation party that Mike Miske put on for his son, Caleb, in 2012.

It was, Miske explained in an email warning an associate not to miss the event, “a very important gathering.”

Miske, the former owner of Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control, M Nightclub, Kamaaina Plumbing, and several other businesses, was convicted last year on 13 counts of racketeering and related offenses, including murder and conspiracy. Several offenses related to the disappearance of Jonathan Fraser, Caleb’s best friend, carry a minimum sentence of life in prison.

Miske died of what is believed to have been an accidental fentanyl overdose while in custody at Honolulu’s Federal Detention Center last December.

But at the time of Caleb’s graduation in 2012 Miske was riding high. Kamaaina Termite had been paid over $4 million in 2010 to treat cabinets in a number of apartments in the two-year-old Keola Lai condominium near downtown Honolulu. The owner of a competing termite treatment company estimated he would have bid under $1 million for the job, but was told that competing bids were not being accepted.

The job was a windfall for Miske, who used over $1 million of the proceeds to fund the buildout and opening of his M Nightclub, another $150,000 to pay down a loan for the purchase of the land for his luxury home at Portlock, and over $900,000 to purchase the Longline fishing vessel “Rachel,” which the government suspected was used to transport drugs as well as engage in legitimate fishing operations, according to financial records cited in the government’s pending civil forfeiture lawsuit.

And Miske must have been feeling good because after four years as the focus of an FBI investigation dubbed “Waimanalo Blues,” named after Miske’s home neighborhood, he had avoided any charges.

The photo from Caleb’s graduation celebration gathered some of his inner circle of associates.

Those in the photo, from left to right when viewing the picture, Back Row: John Stancil, Andrew “Drew” Kim, Caleb Miske (wearing the lei), Mike Miske, Josiah Akau, Russel Mascoto, Alfred “Fredo” Cabael; Kneeling in front, Hansen Apo and Jason Yokoyama.

For perspective, Miske was 6-1 and about 210 pounds.

Here’s a quick review.

John Stancil. Mike Miske’s younger half-brother, who he brought into his organization with a combination of rewards, taunts, and threats. Stancil was convicted of racketeering conspiracy and is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison, the maximum for this crime.

Andrew Kim. Provided “muscle” to Miske. During Miske’s trial, Kim was identified as the primary attacker in the severe beating of a bartender at Miske’s nightclub who was suspected of skimming money. The attack at Sand Island eventually led to the victim losing an eye.

He had been charged with felony assault in a 20098 incident at The Shack in Waikiki.

According to the statement of an HPD detective:

KIM walk up to a male and punch the male in the face using his right fist. The male immediately dropped to the ground and appeared motionless. KIM then stood over the motionless male and appeared to throw two (2) more punches toward the male’s upper body. A heavy set male steps between KIM and the defenseless male. KIM appears to walk away, but quickly returns. The male victim appears helpless and incoherent. The male victim attempts to get up but is unable to do so.

KIM then walks up to the defenseless male victim and punches him three (3) more times in the face and kicks him with a soccer style kick to his face.

Caleb Miske. After graduation, Mike Miske registered a termite treatment company with Caleb as the sole officer, but the company was never actually in business. Later, Miske arranged for a job on the docks for Caleb, but evidence at trial indicated Caleb began missing work, drawing Miske’s ire. Caleb died in March 2016 as the result of complications from a high-speed crash in Kaneohe several months previously.

Mike Miske. No introduction needed.

Josiah Akau. One of Miske’s cousins who worked as a Honolulu firefighter. His name appears in state business records as the alternate Principal Managing Employee (RME) for Kamaaina Plumbing. However, Akau was reportedly unaware that he was listed as RME.

According to prosecutors:

Akau never worked as an employee for, nor ever received pay from, Kamaaina Plumbing. Akau was not aware of a document submitted to the DCCA designating him as Kamaaina Plumbing’s RME. Akau was a full-time firefighter, and he held an active contracting license and was listed since June 6, 2011 as the Principal RME for Diversified Contractor Services LLC. Akau had no affiliation with Kamaaina Plumbing and in no way acted as its RME, but MISKE nonetheless arranged to have Akau designated as Kamaaina Plumbing’s RME.

Russel “Russel Boy” Mascoto. Mascoto was among the associates Miske relied on for “muscle,” according to multiple informants cited in investigative files in the Miske case. Phone records presented during the trial show Mascoto had frequent contact with several “burner” cell phones used by Miske. Mascoto was charged in September 2000 with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

According to court records:

On September 7, 2000, Defendant Russell Mascoto was arrested after a search of his home uncovered a backpack containing plastic bags, $2,400.00 in U.S. currency, a stun gun, over fifty grams of methamphetamine, and a firearm with a loaded magazine.

While he was in custody, he was again charged with possession with intent to distribute crystal meth in January 2022. He had also been arrested for criminal property damage, assault, cruelty to animals and motor vehicle theft.

During the Miske trial, Mascoto was identified as the person who staged a break-in at the Waikele storage bunker and theft of fireworks that prevented investigators pursuing further evidence of illegal fireworks sales by a Miske-related company.

Mascoto was also employed on the docks in Honolulu, like Caleb Miske and several others.

He is one of three trustees of the Michael J. Miske Revocable Living Trust.

Alfredo “Fredo” Cabael. According to trial testimony, during one period Cabael was Miske’s “right-hand man,” who did whatever needed to be done for Miske’s businesses. He was described as part of Miske’s trusted inner circle who enjoyed perks like free food and drinks at the M Nightclub.

Cabael worked as a manager and foreman for Kamaaina Termite, where he supervised fumigation crews.

He was one of those who delivered cash payments to those working on construction of Miske’s Portlock, and kept meticulous records. One of his notebooks that recorded payment information was introduced as evidence in Miske’s trial.

Hansen Apo. In May 2006, Mike Miske got in a confrontation with a high school student at St. Louis School. Later in the day, Apo assaulted another young man after Apo and Miske traced the student to a family home in Kalihi. This shows that Apo was one of those providing “muscle” to Miske at least by that time.

In 2013, Apo was convicted of several felonies and sentenced to prison. John Stancil then introduced Miske to Jake Smith, who then began accepting payments from Miske for committing assaults at his request.

Apo, then 31, was shot and killed in April 2019 by a Punaluu man who said he believed Apo was on drugs and coming to rob him. The shooter, Ray Sheldon, said he had been afraid of Apo for seven years since Apo allegedly threatened him with a gun after Sheldon returned drugs to a dealer Apo had stolen the drugs from.

Jason Yokoyama. One of Miske’s co-defendants who pleaded guilty to wire fraud for his role in skimming cash from the bars at Miske’s M Nightclub and delivering the cash to Miske as part of a scheme to avoid taxes. Yokoyama, who “fronted” for Miske in several businesses, was a key player in a series of long-running licensing frauds that allowed Miske to control his businesses but remain largely “off the books.”