Former city Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro has been arrested on federal charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, bribery and conspiracy to “injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate” a Honolulu engineer by filing false charges of felony theft against her.
Kaneshiro abused the power of his office, the federal indictment alleges, in exchange for bribes from prominent businessman Dennis Mitsunaga, who funneled monetary contributions to Kaneshiro’s reelection campaign. Mitsunaga and three of his employees were also indicted as co-conspirators and arrested. All five defendents in the case pleaded not guilty on Friday afternoon.
If Kaneshiro is ultimately convicted, it would be another stunning revelation about corruption at the highest levels of the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney’s Office — adding to the previous scandal of corruption, conspiracy and greed involving Kaneshiro’s one-time deputy, Katherine Kealoha, and her then-husband and former police chief, Louis Kealoha.
It’s alleged that Kaneshiro accepted bribes to prosecute the engineer, without probable cause, after she filed unemployment and age discrimination claims against engineering and architectural firm Mitsunaga & Associates, Inc. Dennis Mitsunaga, the company’s president, is a well-known figure in Hawaii’s political circles.
The longstanding federal investigation into Honolulu public corruption, spearheaded by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Wheat, began in 2015, prompted by questions about the actions of Katherine Kealoha.
The investigation grew to include Kaneshiro, along with several police officers, public officials and other individuals. The Kealohas were ultimately convicted of felony charges including conspiracy and fraud.
The June 2 indictment against Kaneshiro alleges that Mitsunaga and “other co-conspirators” began contributing money to Kaneshiro’s campaign fund after meeting with Kaneshiro to claim the engineer committed theft by billing time to the firm while working side jobs.
Between 2012 and 2016, this group contributed about $50,000 to the campaign, federal prosecutors said, with Mitsunaga soliciting donations from family members and people with whom he did business, using multiple donations to evade campaign contribution limits.
Evidence assembled by federal prosecutors amounts to a troubling scenario. A police investigation into the alleged theft case against the engineer — Mitsunaga’s former employee — had failed to turn up evidence to support any charge for a legitimate case. And in June 2014, a senior deputy prosecuting attorney (DPA) recommended against charging Mitsunaga’s ex-employee. Nevertheless, not long afterward, Kaneshiro reassigned the investigation to a recent hire, and moved forward with filing felony charges.
It’s unsurprising, then, that a judge dismissed that case with prejudice in September 2017, finding lack of probable cause “and significant irregularities in the DPA’s investigation and prosecution.” What is surprising — and frightening — is that the court action was taken over objections from Kaneshiro’s office.
Hawaii’s voters returned Kaneshiro to office in 2016, despite clouds from the ongoing Kealoha investigation, and state officials initially took no action to remove him from office when he was named a “target” of federal prosecutors. He finally stepped aside in 2019, after then-newly installed state Attorney General Clare Connors petitioned the Hawaii Supreme Court for his removal, citing serious conflict of interest between his legal duties and being the target of a federal probe. Because he wasn’t charged — until Friday — Kaneshiro remained on the city payroll until after Steven Alm was officially elected city prosecutor in the 2020 election.
As this case goes to trial, now set for Aug. 16, more unsavory details are sure to emerge. It will be a tough time for Oahu residents, who once again, will be hearing another possible saga of how public corruption might have reached the highest levels of those who swore to uphold law and order.
