Former Hawaii union boss and his family members charged with conspiracy

A former Hawaii union boss and his family members have been charged with criminal conspiracy and wire fraud for allegedly using union dues for personal expenses and rigging an election in order to more than double union dues for members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1260.

The 70-count indictment against Brian Ahakuelo, 58; his wife, Marilyn, 55; and her sister Jennifer Estencion, 52, was filed Thursday in Hawaii’s U.S. District Court and includes additional charges of money laundering and embezzlement.

On Friday four other employees or former employees of the union were also charged in the alleged election rigging scheme. Michael Brittain, Daniel Rose, Lee Ann Miyamura and Russell Yamanoha, who is now a spokesman for Honolulu’s rail project, were charged with misdemeanor conspiracy offenses.

Members of the IBEW Local 1260, which represents about 3,000 electrical workers in Hawaii and Guam, paid an extra $3.7 million in union dues from March 2015 to June 2016 as a result of the hikes.

Trips and high salaries

Brian Ahakuelo was elected business manager and financial secretary of Local 1260 in June 2011 and served until May 2016 when IBEW placed Local 1260 in an emergency trusteeship. During that time he was in charge of the day-to-day operations of the union and had the authority to hire and oversee staff.

He filled vacancies on the union’s executive board with people who had no experience and who were loyal to him, allowing him to control the union’s finances, according to the indictment. He hired family members, paid them excessive wages in violation of union bylaws and then allegedly used funds to pay for his family’s personal expenses.

Brian and Marilyn Ahakuelo are accused of spending close to $10,000 in airfare on trips to Virginia and Las Vegas that had little or nothing to do with union business. Brian Ahakuelo is also accused of using union funds to pay his son-in-law $29,726, though little or no work was done in exchange, and using $24,594 in union dues to pay off the loan on his wife’s Toyota Tacoma.

Ahakuelo was earning a salary of $160,285 in 2012 as business manager and financial secretary for Local 1260, according to union records filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. By 2015 his salary had jumped to $201,492.

Marilyn Ahakuelo, as director of community services, was earning $105,119 in 2015. Brian Ahakuelo’s son-in-law, Brandon Ahakuelo, was being paid $142,674 as the union’s chief of staff. His daughter-in-law, Neilani Ahakuelo, was earning $77,119 as an executive assistant.

Estencion was earning $101,250 as a senior executive assistant.

They weren’t the only employees of the union who were making six-figure salaries in 2015 before union headquarters stepped in. Three of the four named co-conspirators in the alleged election rigging scheme were also being well compensated.

Brittain was earning $141,077 as director of legislative affairs, Yamanoha was earning $141,520 as director of media and Miyamura was earning $109,596 as an executive secretary.

Rose, who is still listed as an employee of Local 1260 on the union’s website, was earning $73,362.

Attempts to reach the Ahakuelos and others charged in the case were unsuccessful.

Rigged election

Prosecutors paint a picture of lavish salaries and spending that led to a union in debt.

“After depleting Local 1260’s surplus from over $700,000 in 2010 to a net deficit of over $700,000 in 2014, Brian Ahakuelo proposed Resolution No. 14-07 to the Local 1260 membership in the latter part of 2014,” the indictment states.

The resolution proposed a big hike in union fees. It would increase membership dues to 3% from 1.5% of wages in April 2015, 3.5% in April 2017 and 4% in April 2019.

To ensure the hike in membership dues passed, the Ahakuelos and Estencion allegedly falsified election results in two of the nine bargaining units.

Marilyn Ahakuelo falsified the minutes for the Unit 4 membership meeting in Hawaii, recording that the January 2015 votes were 98 in favor and 11 against the dues hike, according to the indictment.

Brian Ahakuelo and Estencion allegedly conspired to rig the Unit 9 election in Guam later that month, with Estencion submitting fake ballots that indicated the resolution passed by a vote of 293-32.

They had help, according to separate court filings.

Brittain, Rose, Miyamura and Yamanoha allegedly met in a hotel conference room in Guam on Jan. 29, 2015, and prepared fake ballots with “yes” votes ahead of the election.

Miyamura and Yamanoha then helped check members into the meeting, while Rose hid outside in a vehicle. After the vote, Brittain delivered the envelope containing the real ballots to Rose, and Rose gave Brittain the fake ballots.

Rose later disposed of the real ballots in a park next to a Guamanian hotel, according to court documents.

U.S. Attorney Kenji Price noted during a news conference in downtown Honolulu on Friday that this isn’t the only recent criminal case involving union officials in Hawaii.

Rodney Capello, former business manager and secretary-treasurer of the Hawaii Electrical Workers division of the Hawaii Laborers Local Union 722, pleaded guilty last month to embezzling nearly $184,000 in union funds.

Charles Kimo Brown, who served as secretary-treasurer of the Hawaii Longshore Division, was indicted in April by a grand jury for falsifying union records and embezzling labor union funds.

Price called the prosecutions “disturbing examples” of union officials exploiting workers to line their own pockets.

“My office’s prosecutions make clear that we will aggressively investigate and prosecute corrupt union officials who abuse the trust vested in them by the hardworking folks in our communities,” said Price.

“My message to these officials is simple: If your job is to protect the hardworking men and women in our communities, then do that. If you use your position to corruptly line your own pockets or serve other corrupt interests, we are coming after you and will hold you accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

Ahakuelo Indictment by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd