The former director of the Maui County Department of Environmental Management and a Honolulu wastewater executive entered pleas of guilty in federal court this morning in connection with a six-year bribery scheme that steered more than $19 million in contracts to one company in exchange for $2 million in cash, trips, casino chips and other compensation.

Stewart Olani Stant, 55, was charged Aug. 31 with conspiracy to deprive the public of their right to honest services. Stant entered a guilty plea to the single count. Milton J. Choy, owner and manager of H2O Processes LLC and Central Pacific Controls LLC, pleaded guilty to a single charge of bribery of a federally funded program.

“I think all of the public is harmed when their public officials don’t demonstrate the fidelity and honesty in their relations and how they act,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson, speaking outside court this morning. “If your public officials are taking money on the side, they are not acting in the public’s interest.”

If convicted, Stant faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000; Choy faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. The government indicated it will seek to seize more than $15 million from Choy and more than $2 million from Stant in forfeiture proceedings should they be convicted.

Stant and Choy are scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 4 at separate times.

Starting in October 2012 and continuing until December 2018, Choy allegedly paid Stant about $2 million in cash, direct deposits, wire transfers, casino chips in Las Vegas, airfare, hotel rooms, and other items of value.

In exchange Stant, who worked as a solid waste division manager for Maui DEM from 2009 until 2015 before a mayoral appointment elevated him to the director, directed $19,316,310 through 56 sole source contracts to Choy’s company, according to the plea agreement.

“He took full responsibility for his actions,” said Stant’s attorney, Cary Virtue, speaking outside of court.

Stant declined to comment. Virtue declined to say what Stant did with the money he received from Choy.

“He lived very well,” said Sorenson.

After the U.S. Department of Justice alerted Choy that he was the target of the Maui probe, about four years ago he became the government informant who helped the FBI set up a sting operation that led to the arrest of two former state lawmakers, both of whom pleaded guilty to taking money.