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A federal judge sentenced former state Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English to three years and four months in prison for taking $18,305 in cash and hotel rooms from a wastewater treatment and industrial machinery executive to support and killing bills and provide intelligence between 2014 and 2021.
Senior U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway also fined English $100,000, half of which is is due within 60 days after sentencing, and levied a $100 special assessment.
He must also forfeit $13,305 in bribes he accepted from businessmen Milton J. Choy who English admitted to accepting and asking for cash, hotel rooms, and dinners for killing legislation and relaying non-public information to Honolulu executive and prominent political donor Milton Choy, president of H20 Process Systems.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson, who prosecuted the case for the government, asked Molloway to sentence English to 42 months in prison.
“Kalani English sold the power and prestige of his position as Majority Leader of the Hawaii State Senate and betrayed his oath as an elected representative of the people of Hawaii,” said Sorenson, addressing Mollway Tuesday afternoon. “We submit this betrayal has caused an even greater crisis in confidence in our elected officials.”
>> PHOTOS: J. Kalani English sentenced
Oki Mollway told the court that a message needs to be sent to corrupt public officials abusing the public’s trust. She pointed out that English owned multiple parcels of land, rental properties and did not need the money and was fro “destitute.”
“He just wanted more,” said Mollway, speaking in court this afternoon. “What you have done is so serious, so detrimental to the fabric of our society…this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.”
She did take into account English’s medical condition when taking two months off of what prosecutors recommended. English’s attorney asked for 30 months.
English contracted COVID-19 in November 2020 and suffers from “long-haul” symptoms that include sleep apnea, memory loss and recall difficulty, lethargy and significant breathing problems. He receives treatments twice a week and is prescribed seven daily medications.
Choy is ensnared in a separate federal public corruption case and helped federal prosecutors and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents capture English, 55, and former state Rep. Ty J.K. Cullen, 41, then vice chairman of the House Committee on Finance.
They were charged Feb. 9 and both pleaded guilty Feb. 15 to a single felony count of honest services wire fraud for failing to report the alleged bribes in his electronic legislative gift disclosure report.
Cullen is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 20.
English, dressed in a dark grey suite, white shirt and wearing a white face mask, English apologized to the court and expressed “deep remorse” for his crime. He said he wants to “be a better man.”
“I ask myself continually ‘why did I do it’, I can’t answer it,” said English, speaking in court. English declined comment after his sentencing.
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