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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Albert Hee headed into Federal court this morning,
Telecommunications entrepreneur Albert Hee was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison today for tax charges, with Federal Judge Susan Oki Mollway recommending that Hee serve his sentence at a medical facility in Minnesota because of his severe allergies and heart condition.
Mollway ordered that Hee surrender to federal authorities to begin his term on April 4, but acknowledged that Hee’s lawyers are planning an appeal.
Prosecutors say Hee 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.
Less than 4 years for stealing, lying, defrauding, and who know what the H else?!?!?!!! Does the medical facility provide full body massages? His arrogance alone deserves a life sentence. His family should be indicted as well. The Hee’s are all pathetic crooks and shysters.
And they are giving him time to appeal before he starts serving his sentence. Whatever happen to equal treatment under the law?
Everyone is equal in Hawaii, but people who are politically connected are more equal than others.
It has a name…”HEEuenza”
agree..and nothing sadder than a Hawaiin leader ripping off Hawaiians and laughing at them. But be sure of one thing: Hee did not do this alone. He had help in high places. The code of Omerta, the mafia code of silence, will keep him from revealing what he really knows.
Whoa hold on there…hummm you’re right.
he did what a lot of others are doing. how about repayment?
Nothing like relaxing at Club Fed
..and, Martha Stewart’s trainees will be preparing meals…
No. The 46 months is only for the tax evasion charges. He still has to go (or at least should) on trial for actually stealing the money.
Once again, another slap on the wrist. How much did Ronald Rewald get?
there’s a name I haven’t thought about in ages
Rewald was sentenced to 80 years in jail in 1985. Served 10 years. Was released on parole in 1995. The big difference between the Rewald and Hee cases, and it is BIG, is that Rewald scammed millions of dollars out of the well-connected in Hawaii who testified against him whereas Hee scammed millions of dollars out of the US government and gave much of it to the well-connected in Hawaii who came to his defense.
Exactly
April 4! Shucks waited for after the Holidays, why not wait until after Easter? Can go down to the court house and watch petty thieves and minor possession go to jail immediately. What a travesty!
They did wait until after Easter. Easter Sunday is March 27th.
Off to prison for the wealthy. Red carpet service with a posh atmosphere. Might as well throw in the decadent hot meals, too.
He isn’t going to prison. He is going to a hospital because he has “allergies” and some unspecified heart condition.
Allergic to being in jail?
Gimme the money he stole and I’ll be glad to away for 46 months !
I’m sure Hee and Mollway are open to working something out with you.
I agree.
Jail or no jail. This man will still be laughing the, Hee, Hee, Hee, straight to the bank on the taxpayers dime.
Ha-ha !!
I gotta wonder what would happen to most of us regular people if any of us got convicted last July for filing false tax returns. I kinda doubt we would have seen last Christmas free. Hee will still be out at Easter on March 27. Unreal.
Hey I was thinking the same thing.
Did his heart condition (whatever it is) and allergies happen after he was indicted?
Yeah, you know. Bottomline he will ROT as long as he is alive and one of us recognizes this fool a_s! More then likely even if he got off, he’d be better off hiding in a cave. Next on the IRS list is to TRASH the company!
Sounds like you want him to have Broken Heart Syndrome?
What are you talking about Fool?
Does this mean he gets to keep the money?
I too would go to jail for 46 months for 4 million dollars, that is providing that I did not have to report until after my birthday on Aug 19th.
He will never serve one single day in jail. It’s just a show folks. The joke is on the rest of us.
Obama will pardon him, no doubt about that!
He should do time in a regular prison. He never intends to do anytime watch his appeals he will make more bogus excuses on why he cannot serve. Too bad other criminals have to do their sentences but guys like Hee think they are above the law.
Does anybody know what happens to his company and or does he pay restitution or a fine?
How about the family members that took money for nothing?
You got it! If Hee wants to play hardball and appeal, then it’s open season on his family. Moneys paid to them as salaries since no services were performed while they were in attendance in school including tuition and purchase of home should be classified as withdrawals/gifts which is regarded as inheritance payments and taxable less the allowable amounts as tax free per spouse per year per individual to Hee and his spouse for additional taxes or the amounts returned to the corporation as illegal transfer of corporate funds.
Screw that criminal POS. Let him do his time in a regular prison!!! Money wins again. I bet you that judge was paid off….(most are as crooked as the day is long)
what a bunch of crock………..
Money and friends in high places can buy you a reduced sentence as well as a medical diagnosis that suits your needs. Isn’t HIS country great!
Four years for what he stole is nothing. Many of us would sign up for that right now, especially if the time will be spent in a medical facility. Speaking of medical, I’m wondering what his medical condition was during the time he was stealing this money. If these are conditions he just acquired I’d be very suspicious.
That’s the reasons for the numbers massage visits, he needed additional stimuli for what leaves to the imagination.
The time does NOT fit the crime.
The Federal Pen is like a resort that caters to ‘white collar’ criminals.
Ask Mallof he received a 150 years sentence.
Crooked politicians. Glad that Aulani Kaaihue ain’t nothing like that. Although she’s a self-made multi-millionaire, she does everything by the books. Take this as a lesson learned, best you have a right and left hand man doing your taxes, and best they both be tax attorneys.
This guy should be in a real prison for at least 10 years. This shows that crime does pay in Hawaii.
Gotta seize his house and other big dollar assets that were accrued in the scam. Fruits of the crime. Come on prosecutors?
What would be funny but actually not, Hee is using the embezzled money for his defense lawyers and the appeals.
People are missing the whole point. Weather you like Hee or not, the magnitude of the crime is enormous. Hee is going to jail for 4 years, Hee has to pay income taxes on the $4 of unreported income, in additional to penalties and interest on the outstanding income taxes. To top it off, Hee probably has enormous legal and accounting fees. In the end, the bills to Hee is quit extensive and he probably lost the $4 million plus. At this time of the year, this is a good reminder to keep Hee in mind while you are preparing your income taxes.
God please TANK Hee he deserves it! Okole-puka!
Myna bird in one Papaya tree.
A voice of intelligence and reasoning a far cry from the “maddening crowd” of Vigilantes.
LKK56, agree, except for your last sentence. I have nothing to fear, when I do my taxes.
Hee might pull strings to try to manipulate State and Federal guidelines. However, the IRS is the pitbull that cannot be tamed. Like LKK said, It will tax Hee’s unreported income, then tax the tax. While in jail, he won’t be earning income. This guy’s family will feel the shame and the financial strain. Their goose is cooked for life. Hee is to blame.
No $$$ restitution? C’mon judge.
46 months what a joke. If was you and me bet we get more.
So he is going to serve his time in a medical facility getting the medical treatment and living a comfortable existence all on the taxpayers dime. Smh.
Seems like a light sentence — does it include having to pay back the money he stole ?
Stupid sentence. I would give him regular hospital treatment like every other inmate. What makes him special? Allergies? To what? Actual jail? One year for every million? That isn’t a disincentive for others. That’s saying screw the public for bigger amounts and run.
His sentence is more severe than what is stated! His reputation, status as a citizen of this State, intergrity and many accolades bestow upon him during buiness ventures are ruin and is a laughing stock among his peers and enemies! That’s more difficult to endure than being in prison. My condolences to his family and friends. My prayers that he will be able to withstand the hardship of losing his freedom! To wish him less or to press judgement on him would not help my conscience nor me in the Divine court of the Judge of all Judges!
Get a grip dummass. He’s a criminal thru and thru. Put him in jail and let him die from his fictitious illnesses.
Now go after all the beneficiaries of his crimes, and also take down the doctors who made the false reports on his health.
Amen…Start with Sabas the B__ch!
Wow a million a year. So the message is crime does pay.
We got a big federally funded jail right here beside the airport. Why not put him in a cage there rather than ship him off to one of the few states even more liberal than Hawaii. If he’s got allergies, give him some allergy lotion and tell him to stop whining.
Good thing he didn’t kill a few citizens during a DUI. He might have gotteb as much as 30 days – suspended, of course.
They should go after his wife and kids. As if they did not know anything………….yeah right!
Book ’em Danno! and throw the key away!
It’s like staying at Club Med.
Must be allergic to being poor.
4th of April? April 1 might have made more sense.
Put the crook away!
Being sentenced to a Club Fed hospital facility is pretty lenient for a low life like Hee but then it persuades him to keep
his mouth shut otherwise he might be inclined to “rat others out’ and cut himself a deal.
From what I have been told, being sentenced to a Club Fed type facility is like being put in a country club for white collar
type criminals. Pretty easy place to do time and you even get to order out for food, if you got the bread to do so.
On top of that, the Fed system gives you time off your sentence for ‘good behavior”.
he will be released earlier to home confinement because his personal doctor can better care for him.
How’s this…”Man gets 20 Years for $100k Scam” (StarAdvertiser May5, 2015) http://www.staradvertiser.com/hawaii-news/man-gets-20-year-term-for-100000-scam/ So based on this equation, Hee should get 800 years. There’s truth to the adage it’s “not what you know, but who you know” that advances a person. In this case it was the many brand and household names that used levied their influence in support of him.