UPDATE: This story has been updated to include comment from Mike Miske, Jr.’s attorney.

In the days leading up to his death, convicted crime boss Michael J. Miske Jr. started slowly tapping into the stash of fentanyl that he’d paid to have smuggled into federal prison.

Miske wasn’t known for using hard drugs and, according to federal prosecutors, he wasn’t turning to opioids in an effort to make prison life easier: He was setting the stage for a suicide that he may have hoped would allow him to pass along $20 million in ill-gotten gains to his granddaughter.

In new documents filed Monday, federal prosecutors say Miske, who led Hawaiʻi’s most notorious criminal organization, killed himself just as they were in the process of obtaining through a criminal forfeiture process assets that were either used in the commission of Miske’s crimes or purchased with criminal proceeds. 

San Francisco-based attorney Edward Burch, who represents Miske’s trust, said in an emailed statement the government was “ignoring the facts and making unsupportable claims.”

Miske, who was convicted of 13 federal counts in July of 2024, died of a fentanyl overdose at Honolulu’s Federal Detention Center on Dec. 1, 2024. At the time, he had not yet been sentenced but was facing mandatory minimum life sentences on two of his charges, including murder in aid of racketeering in connection with the 2016 killing of Jonathan Fraser. 

The same jury that convicted Miske in July 2024, decided a week later to allow the government to take control of his properties — including boats, vehicles, artwork, cash and other items that had been connected to his criminal enterprise. However, when he died before his sentencing, his conviction was vacated and the forfeiture process was terminated. 

The government filed a new civil forfeiture complaint in January 2025 in an effort to seize the assets, but other parties also filed claims.

Burch filed a claim, as did three lenders holding mortgages on some of his properties. 

Federal prosecutors had agreed in June to work toward a settlement with the interested parties. But now the government is moving to amend its complaint based on evidence that Miske obstructed justice and interfered with the forfeiture proceeding by conspiring to smuggle drugs into the prison and die by suicide. 

Miske Tried To Make His Death Look Like An Accident

About three months before his death, Miske transferred properties that had been found forfeitable into his trust, including two boats, a Ferrari, five vintage vehicles and five business bank accounts that were held in the names of other members of his enterprise, according to the government’s amended complaint. He also removed several individuals from his trust, leaving a minor identified as N.M. as the sole beneficiary. Miske’s granddaughter has been identified by those initials in other court filings. 

In early 2025, an inmate who had been incarcerated with Miske told federal investigators Miske had expressed a belief that his death would interfere with the government’s ability to seize his property, “based on advice Miske had received from his attorney(s),” the complaint says. 

Burch denied federal prosecutors’ allegations.

“Now, grasping at straws, the (Department of Justice) has invented a novel and fundamentally flawed legal theory which, if believed, is based on the government’s own negligence,” his statement says.

He also said Miske’s business generated substantial legitimate profits, and through its civil forfeiture process, the government was only harming Miske’s granddaughter, whom he called “an innocent 9-year-old.” Miske’s granddaughter is the daughter of his late son, Caleb, and Caleb’s wife, Delia Fabro-Miske, who was charged with racketeering conspiracy for her role in the Miske enterprise and was sentenced in April 2025 to seven years in federal prison.

“We look forward to preventing the government from holding a child responsible for the alleged sins of others,” Burch’s statement says.

Michael Kennedy and Lynn Panagakos, who represented Miske during his criminal trial, did not return calls and emails seeking comment.

Investigators also found Miske got the fentanyl that killed him from a former inmate who was out on supervised release, the complaint says. Miske arranged with an associate to give the man a vehicle he owned as compensation. The man then purposefully violated the conditions of his supervised release to be re-arrested and brought back to the Federal Detention Center with smuggled fentanyl and other contraband. 

Another source was the one who told investigators that Miske started taking small amounts of fentanyl in the days leading up to his overdose to mislead investigators into thinking he was a regular user so they would consider his overdose accidental. 

Miske “devised a plan to corruptly obstruct, influence, and impede an official proceeding and the administration of justice, by committing suicide for the purpose of obtaining the Defendant Properties as assets of the Miske Trust,” the complaint says. 

U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson did not respond to a call seeking comment. It’s unclear if prosecutors are pursuing charges against the inmates they say conspired to smuggle fentanyl into the facility.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified one of the party’s lawyers.