Prosecutors allege Albert Hee diverted $4M for personal use

Albert S.N. Hee, president of a telecommunications company that serves Hawaiian homesteaders, siphoned $4 million from the company to pay for personal expenses, ranging from massages to a mainland home for two of his children, prosecutors said as Hee’s tax fraud trial began in federal court.

But Hee’s defense attorney said the case amounts to nothing more than a “good-faith dispute” between Hee, his accountants and the government.

Government attorneys say they will outline a case that shows Hee knowingly used company money to provide a lavish lifestyle for himself and his family, including thousands of dollars for meals, flights, vacations, personal massages, a house, college expenses and tuition for his three children attending mainland private colleges.

Hee, president of Wai­mana Enterprises Inc., the parent company of Sandwich Isles Communications Inc., was indicted by a federal grand jury in December on seven counts of corrupt interference with the administration of Internal Revenue Service laws and six counts of submitting a false tax return for the years 2007 to 2012.

His trial began Tuesday, after selection of a five-man, seven-woman jury, with four alternates, before U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway. Prosecutors are scheduled to begin presenting their case Wednesday.