Hawaiʻi AG Investigation Into Political Bribery Case Goes Before Grand Jury
What began four years ago with the convictions of two state lawmakers is now looking at the lieutenant governor and other officials.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Witnesses were brought before a grand jury Friday in Honolulu as the Hawaiʻi Attorney General’s Office appears to be nearing the end of its investigation into $35,000 given to a state lawmaker in 2022.
Attorney General Anne Lopez launched an investigation into the alleged bribe in January amid public pressure to hold the lawmaker accountable, as well as the suspect accused of giving the money. The lawmaker has only been described as “influential” in court documents made public by Civil Beat last year. The suspect accused of handing over the bribe has also not been identified.
Indictments could come as soon as today, although the specific charges and defendants are not yet known.
Whatever comes out of the grand jury room may help answer a mystery in a case that has roiled local politics since bribery charges were first announced against two state lawmakers in 2022. It marks the possible end of a tumultuous period that has hung a dark cloud over lawmakers and ensnared the sitting lieutenant governor.
On Friday morning, the witnesses were quietly ushered into the grand jury witness room, not speaking to reporters waiting in the hallway. Some of the witnesses were lined up near the back entrance to Kaʻahumanu Hale, the First Circuit Court, before the doors opened to the public.
Disgraced politician Ty Cullen arrived alongside his attorney Birney Bervar before the court even opened. A string of other witnesses followed including Tony Baldomero, a former staff member at the Hawaiʻi Campaign Spending Commission. Heavy hitter defense attorney Tommy Otake accompanied Kristen Pae into the grand jury room. Pae donated $5,000 to Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke at a 2022 dinner that is a focus of the investigation.
An unidentified employee of the Department of Health showed up early, represented by attorney Eric Seitz.
Sources identified Seitz’s client as Cathy Ross, a former deputy health director whose division oversaw an office that handled procurement and contracts. As of February, Ross was still employed by the state as a human resource specialist, according to salary data.
The health department granted millions of dollars in Covid testing contracts to the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaiʻi. The City and County of Honolulu similarly awarded millions in contracts to the kidney foundation to help prop up mobile testing labs. Those contracts were arranged by businessman Tobi Solidum, who is the suspected giver of the $35,000.
Former FBI agent Darrin Sakanoi, now working for the state, was among those who escorted witnesses into the grand jury room. Sakanoi previously worked on the federal prosecution of Honolulu’s former prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro, who was tried and acquitted on corruption charges in 2024.
The mysterious $35,000 transaction came to light after Civil Beat published a court document related to a federal bribery investigation into former state lawmakers J. Kalani English and Cullen, both of whom did prison time for accepting bribes.
Cullen, who had been arrested on bribery charges in 2021, agreed to work with the FBI and secretly recorded meetings and conversations as an informant. On Jan. 20, 2022, he recorded a meeting between himself, another man and the “influential” lawmaker during which the man handed over $35,000 for “an existing campaign,” according to the court document. U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson later said the money had been given in a paper bag.
Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, who was running for lieutenant governor at the time, became embroiled in the scandal in February when she revealed that she attended a dinner with Cullen and two other people in January 2022. The two other people were lobbyist and businessman Tobi Solidum and his stepdaughter, Kristen Pae.
Luke said she accepted two $5,000 checks from Solidum and Pae but denied ever accepting $35,000, which is too large to be a legal contribution or gift from an individual.
Luke’s campaign failed to report the contributions until years later when Civil Beat asked about them. She said she returned them after Cullen was arrested, but one of the returned $5,000 checks was never cashed. She said she issued a $5,000 check to the Hawaiʻi Campaign Spending Commission in lieu of the refund.
Luke, who is taking an unpaid leave of absence and has abandoned her bid for reelection, received a target letter in the AG’s probe in April. Solidum has also received a target letter. Solidum’s consulting company raked in millions in federal Covid funding in 2020 after he helped prop up a mobile testing lab through the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaiʻi.
Leo Asuncion Jr., who recently served as the chair of the Hawaiʻi Public Utilities Commission and who worked on Luke’s campaign in 2021 and 2022, also received a target letter from the AG’s Office.
Other state officials have been brought in for questioning during the AG’s probe, including former Department of Human Services Director Ryan Yamane. Yamane, a former state representative who chaired the House committee on health in 2020, sponsored a bill to appropriate $170 million to the health department for Covid testing and mitigation. More than half of that ended up flowing through the Kidney Foundation of Hawaiʻi for Covid-related work over the next two years.
