Hawaii’s Lieutenant Governor Indicted In “Biggest Bribery Scandal In State History”

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, a Democrat, was indicted by an Oahu grand jury on Friday on charges of criminal conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, and falsifying candidate committee reports. The charges stem from an alleged 2022 scheme, dating to her time as a powerful state lawmaker, to steer state money toward COVID-19 testing contracts during the pandemic. Hawaii News Now reported that legal experts are calling it the biggest bribery scandal in state history.

Luke was one of five people named in the 12-count indictment. The others: Ryan Yamane, a former state representative and ex-director of the Department of Human Services; Tobi Solidum, a businessman and lobbyist; Ford Fuchigami, a Transportation Department official; and Leo Asuncion, a former chair of the state Public Utilities Commission. Luke turned herself in Friday afternoon; her bail was set at $80,000.

Gov. Josh Green did not wait for the case to develop. “The Lieutenant Governor needs to consider formally resigning to address this matter and so that the state of Hawaiʻi can move forward,” Green said in a statement Friday.

The Steakhouse Meeting

According to the indictment, Solidum was working as a lobbyist and consultant to the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii, which held a state contract to run community COVID-19 testing sites. With those contracts set to expire and dependent on the state approving emergency funding, prosecutors allege, Solidum set out to buy influence.

On Jan. 20, 2022, Luke – then chair of the powerful House Finance Committee and running for lieutenant governor – met Solidum and others in a private dining room at Morton’s Steakhouse. Prosecutors allege Solidum arranged for two $5,000 checks, both made out to “Friends of Sylvia Luke,” to be handed to her in an envelope she placed in her handbag. The pair discussed COVID-19 testing funding and union support for her campaign, according to the indictment – as reported by the NYT.

“By next week, we’ll have 35 – so it will be halfway to our 70,” Solidum told Luke, according to the filings, allegedly referring to an eventual $70,000. “Oh wow,” Luke replied. “That’s terrific.” The day after the dinner, the indictment states, Luke ordered a House committee chair to set up a meeting with government officials to discuss emergency appropriations to the state health department.

Here the fuller record matters. The written indictment makes no direct reference to $35,000 actually changing hands, according to Honolulu Civil Beat – it alleges Solidum promised $35,000 as the first half of the $70,000. And the cash allegations in the case attach not to Luke but to two of her co-defendants: Hawaii News Now reported the indictment does not allege Luke took cash, while Yamane and Fuchigami allegedly took cash payments from Solidum.

That distinction is central to Luke’s defense. She has consistently denied wrongdoing. Luke previously said she did not take “$35,000 in a paper bag,” and acknowledged accepting the two $5,000 checks while denying she ever accepted a $35,000 donation – a sum that would exceed Hawaii’s legal limit for campaign contributions. In a statement months ago, she said she had “never granted special favors to a contributor” and had “prized integrity and honesty above all” throughout her career.

The Informant, And The Missing Millions

The state case was built on a federal one. Ty Cullen, a former state legislator, was arrested by federal officials in 2021 on bribery charges, then began cooperating with the FBI – wearing a wire and recording meetings, including the 2022 Morton’s dinner, as Honolulu Civil Beat has reported. Earlier federal sentencing records described that interaction and identified the recipient of the $35,000 figure only as an “influential” state lawmaker, without naming anyone. The same federal probe previously sent Cullen and former state senator J. Kalani English to prison.

On Jan. 16 of this year, the U.S. Department of Justice handed Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez evidence about the unnamed legislator. Four days later, Lopez announced a state investigation. Six months on, that investigation produced Friday’s indictments.

Prosecutors were pointed about who they view as the center of the scheme. “If we’re looking at the most culpable individual, factually, we believe it’s Ryan Yamane,” said David Van Acker, a deputy attorney general, per KHON2. Yamane drew the highest bail at $150,000.

And the man who allegedly orchestrated it all is gone. The indictment states Solidum “has been continuously absent from the State of Hawaiʻi,” so no bail was set for him. According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Solidum is separately under federal investigation after bankruptcy filings alleged he made off with at least $7 million from the COVID-19 testing contracts – the same contracts at the heart of the bribery case.

A Fall From Grace

The charges mark a stunning reversal for Luke, who spent more than two decades as a state representative, including 10 years running the House Finance Committee, where she oversaw the state budget and built a reputation – as Honolulu Civil Beat put it – for holding others accountable. She had been widely seen as a leading contender for governor.

Luke took an indefinite, unpaid leave of absence in April after receiving a target letter, was replaced by an acting lieutenant governor, and abandoned her re-election bid. As the state investigation unfolded, several Hawaii labor unions released statements in her support.

The political class read Friday’s news through the lens of one-party control of the islands. “It goes to show that the system that’s been in control of the state for so many years is following through with the perception that the public has had for so many years,” said state Rep. Diamond Garcia, a Republican. A government watchdog was blunter about the puzzle at the center of the case. “If you know Sylvia’s lines of power,” said Camron Hurt of Common Cause Hawaii, “it’s weird that she made this type of mistake.”