Hawaii businessman at center of bribery probe to enter guilty plea in separate case

The wastewater executive at the center of an ongoing federal bribery investigation that resulted in guilty pleas by two former state lawmakers will be charged and accept responsibility in a separate criminal case, his attorney confirmed.

Milton J. Choy, owner of H20 Process Systems and Fluid Technologies, began cooperating with the U.S. Department of Justice after he got caught in a separate investigation. Acting on tips, federal investigators found evidence of financial transactions from Choy’s businesses that allegedly implicate him in a pay-to-play scheme, according to sources with knowledge of the incident.

Once confronted with the evidence, Choy opted to cooperate. It is unclear what, if anything, Choy will receive for his help making cases.

The Honolulu Star- Advertiser is not reporting the details of the alleged scheme that drew the attention of law enforcement due to an ongoing federal investigation.

Choy’s attorney, Michael Green, declined to comment on the circumstances that led Choy to cooperate or how long he has been helping law enforcement. Green told the Star-Advertiser he expects his client to enter a guilty plea and take full responsibility for his actions sometime in the next 90 days. His client understands the penalties could include a federal prison sentence, Green said.

“There is a reckoning, and normally it is not ‘thank you for your apology, please don’t do it again,” said Green.

Choy, who is cooperating with the federal investigation, gave legal donations totaling $160,150 to more than 50 state and county lawmakers since 2014. His companies have received nearly $6 million in government contracts.

At least two of those contracts were sole sourced, meaning officials determined Choy’s companies were the only ones capable of fulfilling a government work order.

Choy’s work as an informant has so far resulted in former state Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English and former vice chairman of the House Committee on Finance Ty J.K. Cullen entering guilty pleas Tuesday to single counts of honest serv­ices wire fraud.

English and Cullen told Senior U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway that they took cash in envelopes, hotel rooms, dinners, casino chips and and other incentives from Choy in exchange for introducing, managing and killing legislation to benefit his businesses. They tried to help Choy make money from Act 125, which was approved by state lawmakers in 2017 and requires the conversion of all cesspools in Hawaii by 2050.

Neither former lawmaker recorded Choy’s payments on their annual mandatory gift disclosure forms, which included a log of any gift worth more than $200. Eng­lish and Cullen emailed this “false and misleading disclosure form, thereby using interstate commerce,” according to the Justice Department.

They each face up to 20 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine. Cullen agreed to pay $23,000 and English agreed to pay $15,305 in money judgments calculated by the bribes they took from Choy.

Both men are free on unsecured $50,000 bonds and will be sentenced July 5.