A prominent Honolulu engineering firm’s former secretary pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges she illegally funneled money to a political candidate through her relatives.

Prosecutors say Terri Ann Otani, 70, donated $2,000 to former Honolulu mayoral candidate Colleen Hanabusa in 2020 in the names of her sister and niece. Judge Ronald Johnson on Monday ordered Otani not to contact her sister or her niece.

Otani’s attorney, Doris Lum, declined to comment on the charges. Hanabusa is not accused of wrongdoing.

Campaign finance violations are almost never prosecuted in Hawaiʻi, but revelations in a federal trial last year laid the groundwork for state charges. 

In that separate federal case, Otani and her former colleagues at Mitsunaga & Associates, Inc. — a politically connected firm founded by her cousin, Dennis Mitsunaga — were accused of directing tens of thousands of dollars to ex-city prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro. Prosecutors had described a campaign cash-for-prosecution scheme meant to buy criminal charges against a former employee of the firm but a jury found all defendants not guilty.

It was during the federal trial that Otani’s sister and niece testified that Otani had used their names to make false political donations for years. Between 2010 and 2020, they said, Otani donated more than $38,000 in their names. 

State prosecutors focused on the most recent of those donations to indict Otani on four counts of false name contributions. Prior donations fall outside the five-year statute of limitations. 

During the federal case, prosecutors alleged Otani’s donations were part of Mitsunaga & Associates’ “modus operandi of paying off politicians in Hawaii.” The firm has been the recipient of millions of dollars in government contracts over the years, and prosecutors said its employees were known to bundle, or coordinate, their donations. 

Campaign finance records show that from 2006 to 2023, Otani donated more than $100,000 to local political candidates. Federal prosecutors questioned whether Otani herself was the true source of those funds, noting in court records the “implausibility of Otani being able to afford making regular and significant political contributions” given her salary.

From 2013 through 2017, Otani earned about $60,000 to $70,000 annually, according to federal court records, a time during which she was donating an average of more than $11,000 per year to political causes. In 2014 alone, Otani made $21,750 in political donations — more than 37% of her salary that year.

“These numbers do not add up,” federal prosecutors said. “Where is Otani’s money coming from? This
evidence establishes she is not contributing funds single-handedly — she is part of a larger coordinated donation apparatus.”

The Hawaiʻi Campaign Spending Commission investigated Otani’s donations following Civil Beat inquiries about the revelations in federal court. The commission then referred the case to the Attorney General’s office.

A trial in the state case is currently scheduled for Nov. 17. Otani was released from state custody after posting $4,000 cash bail.

Deputy Attorney General Thomas Michener made the request Monday that led Johnson to issue a no-contact order for Otani with her relatives.

Federal prosecutors last year accused her of attempting to tamper with her familial witnesses. After Otani’s niece, Jodee Haugh, testified before a grand jury, Otani left her a voicemail that was later played at trial. 

“Don’t talk to anybody else, to the FBI and stuff,” Otani says in the recording. “They’re the enemy. They’re attacking me. You shouldn’t be helping them.”

Otani also left a voicemail with her sister, JoAnn Aurello, who is Haugh’s mother. In that message, Otani pressed her sibling for information on what Haugh had shared with the feds. 

“I don’t know how I’m going to avoid all this crap … They’re going to put me in jail,” Otani says on the recording. “Tell her to think about it and help me get out of this shit … I need the information now.”

Lum argued that a no-contact order wouldn’t be necessary as Otani hasn’t spoken to her family members since last year’s trial. But given that Haugh and Aurello are potential witnesses in the state case, Johnson said Otani might have renewed interest in communicating with them. 

In issuing the order, Johnson warned Otani that her bail could be revoked if she doesn’t comply. 

“The court is concerned that contact by the defendant themself or individuals aligned with the defendant might impact the witnesses,” the judge said from the bench.

Sitting in a wheelchair beside the defense table, Otani said she understood the order.

The Mitsunaga firm, now led by Dennis Mitsunaga’s daughter Lois, released a statement after Otani’s indictment stating that Otani hasn’t worked for the company since 2018. Mitsunaga & Associates, Inc., the firm said, “maintains the highest standards of ethical business conduct and full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.”