#hanalei aipoalani

[freehawaii]

ANOTHER ONE ENSNARED - WHO WILL BE NEXT?

 Honolulu Civil Beat - March 29, 2021 

The CEO of Hawaii island’s public access station, Stacy Higa, will take a leave of absence after his former colleague told federal prosecutors Higa tried to bribe him into steering CARES Act money his way. 

The board of directors of Na Leo, the Big Island’s only public access station, announced the news on Monday afternoon. 

“The Board has been informed that a former employee has made allegations concerning its Chief Executive Director, Stacy K. Higa,” the directors wrote in a statement to the media. “To enable Mr. Higa to address these allegations while limiting any interference or disruption to Nā Leo o Hawaii’s operations, the Board has agreed to have him take a leave of absence, effective April 1, 2021.” 

The station will continue “normal day-to-day operations,” they said

Higa did not respond to a request for comment sent on Sunday. He has not been charged with a federal or state crime, according to a search of court records. 

His leave comes three days after Hanalei Aipoalani, a former senior advisor to Higa, pleaded guilty in federal court to embezzlement and accepting a bribe. 

In a plea agreement, Aipoalani stated that the CEO of Hawaii island’s public access TV station conspired with him last year to fraudulently obtain CARES Act money from Honolulu. Aipoalani worked as a temporary CARES Act program administrator from August through November. 

The CEO was not named in the agreement, but Na Leo TV is the Big Island’s only public access TV station, and Higa has been its president and CEO for years. The FBI raided the station’s offices last year. 

According to the plea agreement, the CEO promised Aipoalani financial benefits if he would influence the approval of his applications to Honolulu for COVID-19 relief money. 

In August and September, Aipoalani said he repeatedly advised the CEO on how to apply for two grants through two entities controlled by the CEO: Na Leo and an unnamed “business and leadership consulting” business on Hawaii island. 

Aipoalani and his co-conspirator “discussed splitting the remaining funds” after Na Leo and the other company completed the required work for the grants, according to the plea deal. Aipoalani expected his co-conspirator to set him up with a job that would pay approximately $60,000 a year, the agreement said.  

The men also talked about having their wives front limited liability companies on Oahu in order to launder money, according to the agreement. 

Ultimately, the station leader applied for $845,000 on behalf of Na Leo and his other company and claimed false expenses, according to the agreement. According to a federal official, the criminal investigation “disrupted” the scheme to obtain those funds. 

Higa is a former Hawaii County councilman. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor of the county last year. Previously, he was the executive director of the Hawaii Commission on National & Community Service, which administers AmeriCorps programs. 

Aipoalani admitted in the plea agreement to embezzling more than $500,000 from Olelo Community Media’s AmeriCorps program when he was the nonprofit’s human resources director. 

Part of that scheme involved falsely representing to Olelo that it owed money to Na Leo for AmeriCorps services performed by Aipoalani’s wife and another individual, according to the agreement.

[freehawaii]

FORMER CNHA BOARD CHAIRMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO EMBEZZLEMENT - WILL GO TO PRISON

[Hanalei Aipoalani was elected Chairman of the Board of Robin Dannerʻs Council For Native Hawaiian Advancement in April 2018]

From Hawai`i Free Press

News Release from US DoJ, March 26, 2021 

WASHINGTON – Hanalei Aipoalani, 42, of Waianae, Hawaii, pled guilty in federal court today to embezzling more than $500,000 from AmeriCorps and to agreeing to accept a bribe for the administration of grants under the CARES Act. 

The announcement was made by Channing D. Phillips, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Columbia; Eli S. Miranda, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Honolulu Field Office; and Deborah Jeffrey, Inspector General of AmeriCorps. 

Aipoalani pled guilty to embezzlement and agreeing to take a bribe. Both charges carry a statutory maximum of 10 years and financial penalties. Under the federal sentencing guidelines, Aipoalani faces a likely recommended sentence of between 70 and 87 months in prison. The Honorable Reggie B. Walton took the plea and scheduled sentencing for June 24, 2021. 

“The United States Department of Justice will prosecute, to the fullest extent of the law, those individuals who choose to abuse their positions of power to enrich themselves at the cost of the American people,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Phillips. 

“The defendant conspired to enrich himself with taxpayer dollars intended to support at-risk communities in Hawai’i, he victimized legitimate volunteers and others by stealing their identities to perpetrate multiple fraud schemes, and he submitted falsified documentation and certifications to the government, all to the detriment of their community. Our investigation also disrupted an ongoing scheme to steal much-needed pandemic relief funds. I commend U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their partnership on this case,” said Deborah Jeffrey, Inspector General of AmeriCorps. 

“Programs such as AmeriCorps are designed to impact the nation in the most positive ways. Their goal is to help others and to meet the critical needs of the communities they serve”, said Special Agent in Charge Eli S. Miranda. “AmeriCorps trusted Hanalei Aipoalani with their mission in the State of Hawai’i and were ultimately betrayed. Aipoalani exploited his position and intentionally stole funds meant for the betterment of the community for his own selfish entitlements. The FBI will never stand for this and will enthusiastically identify and pursue anyone who violates the public’s trust.” 

AmeriCorps is a federally funded network of national service programs that address critical community needs like increasing academic achievement, mentoring youth, fighting poverty, sustaining national parks, preparing for disasters, and more. AmeriCorps’ national service members commit to service for a set period of time, usually a year, in exchange for a living allowance, funding to be used for college tuition, and other benefits. 

From December 2014 through May 2019, Aipoalani embezzled more than $527,000 from a non-profit that hosted an AmeriCorps program, by submitting false claims for payments to AmeriCorps members and directing those payments into his own bank accounts and by creating fraudulent invoices from non-profits for reimbursement by AmeriCorps. As part of his embezzlement, 

Aipoalani used at least nine inactive or former AmeriCorps’ members’ names, without their knowledge or consent, to fraudulently claim living allowances and other payments, which he then diverted to his own use. 

As part of his plea, Aipoalani admitted to conspiring with his wife, Angelita Aipoalani, to enroll Angelita Aipoalani as an AmeriCorps member, even though she did not perform AmeriCorps service activities, and to cause a second non-profit to pay Angelita Aipoalani more than $69,000 for no compensable work. Aipoalani also admitted to engaging in a scheme to fraudulently obtain AmeriCorps education awards for Angelita Aipoalani. 

Angelita Aipoalani has been separately charged with conspiring to embezzle from Americorps. 

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act, which was passed by Congress and signed into law in or about March 2020, provided financial relief to individuals, businesses, states, and localities suffering the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among other relief programs, the CARES Act created a $150 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund ("CRF") to be distributed to states, localities, and tribal governments to support expenditures incurred due to COVID-19. Government entities that received money from the CRF could use the funds, among other things, to make grants to small businesses to reimburse the costs of business interruption caused by required closures and to provide economic relief for those suffering employment interruption.

In August 2020, Aipoalani was hired to serve as Honolulu City and County’s Department of Community Service’s CARES Program Administrator and was responsible for administering CRF programs. In that capacity, Aipoalani agreed to accept a financial benefit from an applicant who filed two fraudulent applications for CARES Act Funds under the agreement that Aipoalani would influence the approval of the grant applications and would receive a financial benefit in return for the approvals. 

The FBI, the Inspector General for AmeriCorps, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office are committed to investigating and prosecuting individuals who defraud the AmeriCorps program and programs under the CARES Act. If you are aware of fraud, waste, or abuse affecting AmeriCorps or any of its programs, contact the AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General Hotline at 1-800-452-8210 or hotline@AmeriCorpsOIG.gov....