Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke of Hawaii Indicted
Sylvia Luke, indicted
In a dramatic escalation of Hawaii’s most significant political corruption case in years, Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke was indicted Friday by an Oahu grand jury on charges of criminal conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery by a public servant, and falsifying candidate committee reports.
By SyndicatedNews Legal Eagle | SNN.BZ
The 12-count indictment, unsealed after a full day of grand jury testimony, places one of the state’s highest-ranking elected officials at the center of an alleged scheme involving pandemic-era testing contracts, campaign cash, and influence at the State Capitol. Four others were charged alongside her: former state Representative Ryan Yamane, lobbyist and businessman Tobi Solidum, state airports administrator Ford Fuchigami, and former Public Utilities Commission Chair Leo Asunción.
Prosecutors described Yamane as the “most culpable.” Solidum faces a no-bail arrest warrant after reportedly relocating to the Philippines and moving assets offshore.
The Steakhouse Meeting That Unraveled
The core of the case against Luke reaches back to January 20, 2022. At the time she was a powerful House Finance Committee chair running for lieutenant governor. According to the indictment, she sat down for dinner in a private dining room at Morton’s Steakhouse in Ala Moana with Solidum, his stepdaughter Kristen Pae, and then-state Representative Ty Cullen.
Cullen was secretly recording for the FBI.
Prosecutors say Pae handed Luke two $5,000 checks written to her campaign. Solidum then allegedly promised far more. “By next week we’ll have 35 — so it will be halfway to our 70,” he is quoted as telling her. The conversation, the indictment states, linked the money to union support for her campaign and to Luke using her influence to push emergency state funding for COVID-19 community testing sites operated by the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaiʻi, where Solidum worked as a consultant and lobbyist.
The next day, according to court documents, Luke moved to schedule a meeting about emergency health department appropriations. Within weeks, legislation advanced that helped keep the costly testing program funded.
Luke has previously maintained she never accepted $35,000 from any single person and has described certain unreported contributions as reporting errors. She has said she later tried to return money after Cullen’s federal arrest because she felt “uncomfortable.” She is presumed innocent and has not entered a plea.
A Web of Cash, Contracts, and Code Words
The indictment paints a broader picture of money flowing around the testing contracts. Solidum allegedly delivered cash and checks to Yamane on multiple occasions, sometimes using coded language about dropping something off. Fuchigami, then a legislative budget aide, allegedly received a $7,000 check from Solidum days before discussions of emergency health funding.
Solidum’s consulting work tied to the National Kidney Foundation’s testing operation generated millions during the pandemic. Court records previously showed the foundation and related entities received tens of millions in state and federal funds for mobile testing sites, including one at Honolulu’s airport, amid later questions about pricing.
The current case grew out of the earlier federal prosecutions of Cullen and former Senator Kalani English, both of whom went to prison for bribery. Cullen’s cooperation, including the wired dinner, provided key leads that eventually brought the state Attorney General’s Special Investigation and Prosecution Division into the probe.
Fallout at the Top
Luke had already taken an unpaid leave of absence in April after receiving a target letter and abandoned her reelection bid. She turned herself in Friday afternoon at the state sheriff’s office and posted $80,000 bail.
Governor Josh Green issued a statement hours after the indictment became public: “The Lieutenant Governor needs to consider formally resigning to address this matter and so that the state of Hawaiʻi can move forward.”
Asunción, who served as Luke’s campaign treasurer, and Fuchigami also face charges involving false statements and obstruction. Yamane, who later served as Green’s director of the Department of Human Services before resigning amid the probe, faces the most serious individual bribery counts.
Attorney General Anne Lopez said her office followed the facts “no matter how long it takes to get there.” The investigation is widely viewed as still active.
What began as a federal bribery case involving two lawmakers has now reached the lieutenant governor’s office and the upper ranks of state government. The coming months will test whether the allegations of influence-peddling around pandemic contracts hold up in court — and how deeply the scandal has cut into Hawaii’s political establishment.
All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Court appearances have not yet been scheduled.
