Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke and four others were indicted by an Oahu grand jury Friday in an alleged, wide-ranging bribery conspiracy to secure state money for COVID-19 testing during the pandemic.

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Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke and four others were indicted by an Oahu grand jury Friday in an alleged, wide-ranging bribery conspiracy to secure state money for COVID-19 testing during the pandemic.

The alleged co-conspirators include the state airports administrator, the ex-director of the Hawaii Department of Human Services, the former Public Utilities Commission chair, and a lobbyist who has fled the country.

In secret proceedings Friday, state Department of the Attorney General prosecutors presented evidence to the grand jury uncovered during a six-month investigation spurred by a separate federal criminal case involving $35,000 given to an “influential lawmaker” in 2022.

Arrest warrants were issued Friday but the AG’s office would not say if those charged would be arrested or allowed to turn themselves in for booking.

State Attorney General Anne E. Lopez and Supervising Deputy Attorney General David Van Acker held a short news conference Friday afternoon after the indictments were issued. Van Acker listed the charges and stressed that there is a presumption of the defendants’ innocence as the case proceeds in the courts.

Neither Van Acker nor Lopez gave any further information about the case and took no questions from reporters.

Gov. Josh Green said in a short written statement Friday that Luke, who is on unpaid leave and quit her reelection campaign in April, should step down. “The Lieutenant Governor needs to consider formally resigning to address this matter and so that the state of Hawaii can move forward,” he said.

None of the attorneys representing the five people charged Friday immediately replied to Honolulu Star-Advertiser requests for comment.

Luke, who told the Star-Advertiser in February that she may be the “influential lawmaker” but didn’t take the money, was indicted for criminal conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery and falsifying candidate committee reports. Her bail was set at $80,000.

She is accused of agreeing to accept up to $70,000 in campaign contributions if she helped secure funding to support a lobbyist’s multi-million dollar COVID-19 testing contract.

The lobbyist is Tobi J. Solidum, who was charged with four counts of conspiracy to commit bribery and three counts of bribery after he allegedly bribed Luke and others with campaign contributions, checks and cash. Solidum was working on the state’s contract with the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii to provide community testing for COVID-19.

He is also the subject of a separate federal investigation after bankruptcy filings allege he made off with at least $7 million from the testing contracts. A no-bail warrant was issued for Solidum, who liquidated his assets and fled to the Philippines, according to the AG’s office.

Former state Rep. Ryan Yamane, who is also the former director of DHS, is charged with conspiracy to commit bribery and bribery after he allegedly took at least $7,000 to push Solidum’s agenda with the Health Department and for emergency funding from the Legislature, according to the 30-page indictment.

Yamane also allegedly fed Solidum information about COVID-19 funding policy and reported rival testing contractors at Solidum’s direction.

In May, Green told Yamane to resign after the former state legislator was questioned in the investigation.

Yamane’s bail was set at $150,000 after Van Acker told Judge Ron Johnson on Friday that Yamane was the “most culpable.”

Ford Fuchigami, airports administrator for the state Department of Transportation, is charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, use of false statement and obstruction of justice.

While working as staff for the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, Fuchigami allegedly deposited a $7,000 check from Solidum into his American Savings Bank account on Jan. 31, 2022.

Two days later, on Feb. 2, 2022, Solidum, Yamane and Fuchigami met to discuss the emergency appropriation to DOH, according to the indictment. During an interview with the AG’s Special Investigation and Prosecution Division, Fuchigami allegedly told investigators he never received money from Solidum.

Fuchigami’s bail was set at $80,000. He was still employed by DOT as of Friday.

“HDOT will follow its internal administrative policies regarding the indictment of Airports Administrator Ford Fuchigami. HDOT will cooperate with any lawful requests from the appropriate authorities, as needed,” department officials said in a statement to the Star-Advertiser.

Leo Asuncion Jr., a former Luke campaign volunteer and former PUC chair, was charged with falsifying candidate committee reports, use of false statement and obstruction of justice.

From Jan. 20 to July 14, 2022, Luke and Asuncion allegedly falsified a report to the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission by failing to include Solidum’s $5,000 and his daughter Kristen Pae’s $5,000 campaign contributions to Friends of Sylvia Luke, prosecutors said. His bail was set at $80,000.

According to the indictment, Luke served as chair of the House Committee on Finance when she accepted campaign contributions from Solidum with the “intent that her vote, exercise of discretion, or other action in her official capacity as an elected Representative and the Chair of the House Committee on Finance would be influenced.”

Luke accepted $10,000 in campaign contributions from Solidum and allegedly agreed to accept a total of $70,000 in campaign contributions from Solidum with the “intent to use the power of her elected position to provide funding to DOH for community testing for COVID-19.”

Luke allegedly took $10,000 at Morton’s The Steakhouse at Ala Moana Center during a Jan. 20, 2022, dinner and agreed to accept $70,000 in campaign contributions. Her bail was set at $80,000. The dinner included Luke’s then-vice chair of Finance, former state Rep.Ty J.K. Cullen, who unbeknownst to Solidum and Luke was working as an FBI informant at that point and recorded the dinner.

At the time, Luke was running for lieutenant governor and Solidum had developed “lucrative financial interests” working on DOH’s contract with the National Kidney Foundation to provide COVID-19 testing. Two days before the dinner, on Jan. 18, 2022, Solidum met with Cullen at the Elks Lodge in Waikiki to let him know DOH was going to “cut us off by February.”

Solidum allegedly suggested using the state’s resiliency funds to pay the $54 million to maintain 25 COVID-19 community testing sites for one year, not including the cost of tests and labor. He said he talked to Luke about using a different funding formula and asked Cullen to join them at the dinner.

Solidum told Cullen that Luke was “Running for LG now. All I gotta do is give her more money,” the indictment said. Solidum texted a DOH employee to let them know he was meeting with Luke about more money for COVID-19 testing.

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On Jan 20, 2022, Luke, Solidum, Cullen and Pae met in a private dining area at Morton’s. After Luke arrived, Solidum told her that “Pae had a couple of checks to give her,” according to the indictment.

Luke replied, “Oh, thank you.” Pae placed an envelope on the table. Luke reportedly picked up the envelope and put it in her handbag. The envelope contained a $5,000 check from Solidum and a $5,000 check from Pae, both written out to “Friends of Sylvia Luke.”

Solidum told Luke, “By next week we’ll have 35 — so it will be halfway to our 70.” Luke responded, “Oh wow,” and, “That’s terrific.”

Solidum continued, “So I’ll get you your 70 but just gotta get to that point, OK? It’s our fundraiser.” Solidum also told Luke he would help pull union support for her.

The day after the dinner, Luke ordered the then-chair of the House Committee on Pandemic and Disaster Preparedness to set up a meeting with government officials to discuss emergency appropriations to DOH, the indictment stated. Three days later, on Jan. 25, 2022, Luke attended a meeting with government officials to “discuss emergency appropriations to DOH and DOH’s ability to pay for COVID community testing.”

Luke is accused of using her role as House finance chair to ensure the emergency COVID appropriations were what Solidum wanted and remained in the bill as it moved.

The indictment documents Solidum allegedly meeting Yamane on at least eight occasions to give him cash and checks in exchange for Yamane’s help with Solidum’s work. On one occasion, Solidum allegedly left money with Yamane’s secretary, and during another exchange Solidum met Yamane by his car in the state Capitol’s basement parking lot.

The indictment said Yamane deposited some of the money into his personal bank accounts.

On Feb. 18, 2022, Solidum texted Yamane to let him know he had “one more check and should have more tomorrow.”

“I cashed yours this morning so I have $2,000,” Yamane replied.

After agreeing on a time for the exchange, Yamane offered: “Unless you like do tomorrow morning but no time go bank.”

Solidum replied that he had “1,500 and wanted to pick up another (thousand) here. Mel will leave cash in Manila for you.”

“Cool,” replied Yamane.

On Feb. 2, 2022, Solidum, Yamane and Fuchigami met to discuss the emergency appropriation for COVID-19 testing for DOH that Yamane introduced.

The next day, at Yamane’s request, the House Committee on Pandemic and Disaster Preparedness heard House Bill 2392 and amended it to be an emergency appropriation for “coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic mitigation, including vaccinations, distribution of supplies, testing, monitoring, reporting, and related staffing.”

On Feb. 8, 2022, Solidum and Yamane texted back and forth about Cullen and former Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English being charged with federal crimes.

Yamane texted Solidum, “Might not be good to been seen with me.” Six days later, Yamane allegedly deposited more bribes from Solidum into his account.

The indictments Friday were the culmination of an investigation that started six months ago when, on Jan. 16, the U.S. Department of Justice gave Lopez evidence about an incident involving an unnamed state legislator who allegedly took $35,000 in campaign contributions.

Four days later, Lopez announced an investigation into an “influential state legislator” who allegedly agreed to accept $35,000 in campaign contributions at a 2022 dinner.

Luke’s attorney, David Louie, told Lopez that Luke and her campaign retained him as their attorney on Feb. 5, four days before Luke told the Star-­Advertiser and other media that she may be the “influential state legislator” recorded by the FBI allegedly discussing $35,000 in campaign contributions.

The state AG’s investigation is based on evidence from the long-running federal probe that included evidence gathered from the 2022 dinner recorded by Cullen.

On April 23, Luke announced she was taking an indefinite, unpaid leave of absence as lieutenant governor after receiving a letter from the AG’s office informing her that she was a target of a separate bribery investigation. She also ended her reelection campaign.

The ongoing state investigation so far has included over two dozen interviews and reviews of thousands of pages of documents, including emails and text messages.

During the investigation, the AG’s office notified Luke, Solidum and Asuncion that state investigators had found evidence supporting possible bribery charges.

On May 19, Green told Yamane to resign from DHS after Yamane was questioned about allegations of public corruption involving Hawaii’s COVID-19 testing contracts during the pandemic as part of the AG’s probe.

In addition to the state AG’s investigation, the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission conducted a separate probe into Luke’s campaign finances.

The commission voted unanimously this month to refer Luke and her campaign to AG for potential criminal prosecution for 251 alleged violations of state campaign finance law.

Luke’s campaign allegedly did not report $52,657 in expenditures and more than $32,000 in contributions that were documented in the campaign’s accounting rec­ords.

Luke has said the errors are her fault.

Commission staff investigated Luke’s campaign spending for the reporting period of July 1, 2021, to Dec. 31, 2022.

Commission Executive Director Kristin E. Izumi-Nitao filed the civil complaint against Luke, the Friends of Sylvia Luke, and campaign staff who worked as Luke’s treasurers. Treasurers named in the 39-page civil complaint are Asuncion; Luke’s husband, Michael Luke; Emmanuel Zibakalam; Kalowena Komeiji and Matthew W. Sasaki.

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