Hee’s sentencing delayed anew
STAR-ADVERTISER / JULY 10
Defendant Albert Hee exited the federal courtroom on July 10. His sentencing for tax fraud was rescheduled to Jan. 6.
Federal Judge Susan Oki Mollway delayed sentencing Honolulu telecommunications executive Albert Hee for a second time Tuesday, citing concerns about whether he would be able to get appropriate medical care for his food and environmental allergies in prison.
Hee’s attorney Michael Purpura testified that Hee suffers from severe allergies and that “any period of incarceration is life-threatening.” Hee also suffered a heart attack in 2011, according to his defense, making his medical condition more fragile.
Prosecutors have recommended that Hee be sentenced to between 41 and 51 months in prison for tax fraud. They say he siphoned about $4 million from his company Waimana Enterprises to cover “false” salaries to family members, college tuition for his children, family vacations, massages and dozens of other personal expenses.
Hee directed accountants and company employees to classify many of the personal expenses as business deductions or part of a shareholder loan that was never intended to be repaid, according to prosecutors.
Hee was convicted in July on six counts of filing false income tax returns and one count of corruptly impeding the IRS from correctly calculating and collecting his taxes.
The court set a new sentencing date for Jan. 6.
Don't miss out on what's happening!
Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!
Last month Mollway delayed sentencing because she wanted more information about Hee’s medical conditions and more time to calculate the exact amount of the tax loss.
The prosecution pegged the tax loss at $431,793, which is important for determining how much Hee might have to repay the government as well as how long he could spend in prison.
On Tuesday Mollway concurred with the prosecution’s tax loss estimate over the objections of Hee’s attorneys, who said that the salary and benefits paid to Hee’s wife, a year of college tuition for one of his daughters and what Hee claims was a shareholder loan shouldn’t be calculated as part of the tax loss.
But Mollway was still uncomfortable with the information she was provided on Hee’s medical conditions.
Hee’s attorneys say he has food and environmental allergies that require him to take Benadryl daily, supplementing it with higher doses or injections of the medication if he’s having an allergic reaction. They say he also carries an EpiPen, which injects medicine into the body to treat anaphylaxis, and a device to puncture his windpipe in case of a severe reaction. Purpura said that Hee at times has to use the EpiPen but has not had to use the tracheal device.
A physician for the Federal Bureau of Prisons testified by phone that Hee could likely be provided with doses of Benadryl. He could also carry an EpiPen. The physician said that Hee, if sentenced to prison, could also be committed to a prison medical facility, where medical personnel are available at all times.
However, Mollway wanted more information — in particular, she wanted to know whether Hee could carry extra doses of Benadryl with him at all times, which could affect his sentence.
“I really wanted to finish this today,” said Mollway. “But it is really ridiculous for me not to have all the information that I need and to make a decision just because I’m inconveniencing you. I’m just not going to do that.”
Dozens of friends, family members, well-known political figures and business executives have submitted letters to Mollway urging her to be lenient in sentencing Hee, citing his years of community service, devotion to his family and the Native Hawaiian community, and good character.
Last month Mollway ordered those letters to be released to the public.
Subsequently, Mollway received a letter from Waianae High School teacher Trevor LaTorre-Couch saying his students have been following the coverage of Hee and are concerned about the equity of the justice system.
“They do not understand why Hee, who siphoned off funds for resources that belong to all of us, should be granted leniency,” wrote LaTorre-Couch. “They cannot comprehend why our state leaders — namely, a senator — would cite long-running friendships as valid reasoning to grant leniency. If they found themselves in violation of a law, could they count on the same high-ranking government officials to write letters of support? And if not, why? Finally, if the legal system is built for individuals like Hee — wealthy and well-connected — might it also be prejudiced against them — working-class, unprivileged, living below the poverty line?”
52 responses to “Hee’s sentencing delayed anew”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Waianae High School students are right to be concerned about the equity of the justice system. Are the wealthy and well-connected coddled by the system? It appears so.
Also, sounds like the Waianae teacher has challenged his students to think critically about societal inequity.
IMUA West Side For STANDING TALL. Yeah baby, now you are ready to lead your people. Thank you for restoring my faith and REPRESENTING our Hawaiian values.
*like*
Why is his health so important to the rest of the world? Is he special to the judge? I don’t think others are treated the same. Will the millions that he stole be used for his health?
This is a sad sad situation. He should be ashamed (Hila hila). I think we were better off in the old days of not getting any news. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about all the bad things people do. Now we are all biased in our way of thinking. Thank you for all the abuse of everything.
Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time. Mr. Hee should receive the maximum penalty. He has not accepted personal responsibility or expressed any remorse. I believe he still thinks he did nothing wrong.
His family is also guilty of receiving stolen goods and they don’t believe anything is wrong. Then you have holier than thou politicians and high ranking officials calling for leniency because they are his friend. Sad and I hope they were not beneficiaries of stolen resources as well.
I still believe the maximum penalty and restitution is in order.
Hee’s wife and children as well as his letter writing supportive friends should offer to take turns in a cell for Hee. Each one can do a month for Hee. Let’s see how concerned and sympathetic they really are.
Great idea!
Nobody talked about his health issues while spending millions. Just a feel sorry story.
Maybe it was all that money that gave him those allergy’s, in jail he won’t be around any so he should be okay
Good one!
I’m also allergic to the rail tax.
He was healthy enough to steal from us.
“Tuesday, citing concerns about whether he would be able to get appropriate medical care for his food and environmental allergies in prison.”>>> Don’t EVEN start!!! Just find out what he used to order when he went out to his fancy schmancy restaurants, on OUR tax money, boil THOSE ingredients into a PASTE on slap it onto two slices of bread and let him eat THAT….EVERY…Single….DAY!
No other criminal would be granted these delays and medical problems to avoid prison. Shame on this judge for allowing this travesty of justice. One for poor people and one for wealth people is the norm.
Maybe the message to the general public is make sure you have QUACK DOCTOR to claim you have allergies and a heart condition (from worrying about the bad publicity, getting caught and SERVING REAL FEDERAL TIME) before you commit a crime.
Why does he get to be with his family during the holidays? And why did my cell phone fee for Universal whatever-rip-off get bumped up? To make up for the $4 million smackers HEE stole?
And don’t speculate what MAY be. Look to his PAST 5 year history. How many times has this actually been a DOCUMENTED issue in his dining excursions?
I wonder if on all of his airline travels he had special meal requests???
Maybe HE should have thought about the quality of prison food before HE chose to commit HIS crimes. Not OUR burden. This whole “coddling” thing just WREAKS of favoritism.
Good point.
Hee and his pals are allergic to truth and justice!
Maximum sentence for Hee. All medications supplied to him in prison should be on his bill, and not on ours.
800 mg of SSRI for his brain to function?
Just wait until the furor and news coverage dies down and then you’ll see Hee walk free without any jail time.
Hee has good attorneys. I can see how this will play out. They will argue that he is not a flight risk or a risk to the community and that home confinement (due to his medical conditions) would be the same as having him confined to prison. Then they’ll parade a contrite Hee in front of the court and cameras where he will admit that he’s made mistakes and that he’s very sorry for letting down his family and all those who placed confidence in him. The attorneys will also argue that it makes no sense to spend taxpayer money incarcerating someone who is not violent and not a flight risk. The problem with their argument is that it flies in the face of justice. As the students at Waianae pointed out, someone else who cannot afford skilled attorneys would have been thrown in prison a long time ago. What’s worse, those attorneys are being paid with ill-gotten gains. Hee needs to spend time behind bars (not in home confinement) AND he needs to pay the back taxes and reimburse the government for the amounts he grossly overcharged. Allergies are not a get-out-of-jail-free card. If Mollway accepts Hee’s argument, then the prisons should let free all the prisoners who have allergies.
who can file a civil against him?
Looks like he has friends at the Star/Advertiser too! Lock the thug up! He’s a thief!
A thug with a pony tail hair is way more honest than Hee is.
Comments made from the eyes of the young…who clearly see the stark reality us older people have learned to live with. There is so much inequality in the land of the free. Let the sentencing of a greedy and unscrupulous man like Hee be the start of a cleansing of our political and judicial system. He should get what he deserves, which is the maximum sentence of the law. His wife, the CEO of Kaimana and children are also complicit in his deeds and they should be charged and sentenced as well.
hee is suffering from affluenza, a condition that is compounded by his dependence on federal grant money.
Hee is suffering from ‘entitlement-itis’… a condition bought and paid for by taxpayers money.
Hee’s got a CROOK-ed spine. You can tell by all the massages for which he needed us to pay.
Hee has no pride! Just another punk-criminal.
Dawg: A punk criminal would serve time! Don’t belittle them 😉
This is shaping up to be Jimmy Pfuguer all over again. A rich, powerful insider who avoids prison thank to his friends and contacts.
That was my first thought. Never hear of a single health problem until they face jail then the list of health problems is so long makes you wonder how they get out of bed in the morning.
He is trying to pull a Jimmy Pfulger! Send the crook to jail. He stole $4,000,000 of taxpayer’s money.
What this all comes down to is will Federal Judge Susan Oki Mollway base her sentence on what was presented in court or will she give into political pressure. The decisions we all make in everyday life has a consequence on ourselves and others. When we make that choice to err on the side of the law then we need to pay. A justice system was established long ago. Courts, along with Judges and Juries are here to see that justice prevails. We can only hope that the Judge or Jury is not prejudiced or biased and will make a decision based on fact and hand down a sentence that is deserving of the crime without outside influence.
Bending to political pressure or what other considerations received? Methinks she is not qualified if she has qualms about meting out justice. Justices do not have the luxury to consider health or mental conditions of the convicted. She must apply the law as enacted. If the job is to difficult resign.
He can thank his brother Clayton for the sentencing postponement. Politics at it’s best. you wait, next will come for no prison time.
Wait until he is too old to do prison time.
He will rot away…in or out of jail. The man is marked and will need to move from the people he Ripped-Off!
It’ll be difficult to throw this crook in jail. The judicial ‘players’ of this state is all “weak” and will fold under pressure from the elites.
President Obama would probably pardon him as he wouldn’t want to see his children being torn away from him if he goes to prison. Just like the president said about deporting illegal immigrants – imagine seeing news flashes around the world showing children being torn away from their parents being deported.
I’m allergic to prison!
We are all prisoners of Hawaii’s lack of leadership.
GIMME A BREAK!!!! All of sudden when he’s facing jail time, out comes all his health problems. First of all, he going to federal prison which is much nicer than OCCC. If he get’s away with this, we should let all prisoners with allergies get out of prison for medical care.
He did the crime, now he has to do the time!
Lesson learned: Wait until you get old and have lots of friends before committing crimes that will benefit your family. Having allergies, or any medical condition, will get you special treatment.
Just get him some Allegra and ship his okole off to the calaboos.
I do not care if he can get special medical care in prison or not. If he “walks” on this because of that, every rich criminal will immediately develop some medical conditions that are not condusive (sp?) to being locked up in prison. Do you really think that if some homeless person had committed a felony crime and then claimed medical conditions like Hee, that they would be allowed all this same treatment?
Not a chance in our tainted judicial system. Nice of the “judge” to postpone his sentencing, again, so that he can stay home for the holidays. Unfortunately, this happens not only in Hawaii.
We are all allergic to PRISON!
His family is just as guilty, they cant claim ignorance.
I sure ain’t or going to be a crooked politician. Vote Kaaihue for Mayor.