The former director of the Maui County Department of Environmental Management was accused by federal prosecutors with taking $2 million in cash, travel and casino chips to steer $19 million in contracts to a Honolulu wastewater executive’s companies.
For his role in the bribery scheme, Stewart Olani Stant, 55, was charged by information filed Aug. 31 with conspiracy to deprive the public of their right to honest services. Also charged with bribery of a federally funded program was Milton J. Choy, owner and manager of H20 Process Systems LLC.
The informations were unsealed today in U.S. District Court.
Stant accepted $733,176 in checks and fund transfers from Oct. 25, 2012 to Sep. 24, 2018 and $644,570 in cash was deposited into two bank accounts. From 2012, to 2018, Choy bribed Stant with cash, bank deposits, and gambling trips to Las Vegas in exchange for “lucrative sole source contracts” from Maui County’s Department of Environmental Management.
“He disclosed none of it,” said U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors, speaking at a news conference today.
During that same time period, Stant, working first as a wastewater manager and then as the DEM director, approved $19,316,930 in contracts to Choy’s company.
“H20 Process system received substantial work (from Maui County),” said Connors.
By taking bribes to steer contracts to Choy’s company and corruptly failing to disclose them, Stant conspired to “commit honest services wire fraud and deprived the citizens of Maui County of their right to his honest and conflict free services as a public official,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Hawaii.
Stant and Choy are not in federal custody and will be arraigned Monday.
Acting on a tip from a concerned Maui citizen, the investigation was done by the FBI and the prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ken Sorenson, Micah Smith and Michael Albanese.
If convicted, Stant faces a sentence of up to 20 years imprisonment, and a fine of up to $250,000. If convicted, Choy faces a sentence of up to 10 years imprisonment, and a fine of up to $250,000. An Information is merely an allegation and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Choy has been cooperating with the U.S. Department of Justice in their ongoing efforts to root out corrupt public officials in Hawaii.
U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors acknowledged during a news conference today that Choy is “person A,” the individual who bribed and brought down former state Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English, 55, and former state Rep. Ty J.K. Cullen, 41.
English was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison July 5 for accepting $18,305 in cash from Choy in exchange for legislative intelligence and managing legislation to benefit H20 Process Systems between 2014 and 2021.
In federal court documents detailing their bribery venture, Choy is referred to as “person A.”
Cullen is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 20.
