Former Hawaii County housing specialist Alan Rudo developed a lucrative — and criminal — side hustle: creating phony affordable housing credits, and taking or seeking nearly $2 million in bribes from developers to provide them the credits. It’s a particularly callous crime, considering the need for housing in the islands, as the scheme awarded credits for housing that was never built.

Rudo pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, in a scheme first hatched while he worked for Hawaii County’s Office of Housing and Community Development, and is “cooperating with the government,” his attorney stated. The private sector co-conspirators have yet to be named.