Milton Choy, the local wastewater executive whose cooperation with federal investigators led to the arrest and convictions of former state legislators Kalani English and Ty Cullen earlier this year, has been charged in a separate bribery case involving the former director of the Maui Department of Environmental Management.

What You Need To Know

  • Milton Choy, owner and manager of H20 Process Systems, LLC, was charged with bribery of an agent of a federally funded program

  • Former Maui Department of Environmental Management director Stewart Stant was also indicted on a charge of honest services wire fraud

  • According to indictments unsealed Thursday, Choy allegedly gave Stant more than $2 million in cash, bank deposits, and paid trips to Las Vegas in return for Stant’s help in directing more than $19 million in DEM contracts to Choy’s business

  • Choy cooperated with federal prosecutors in their cases against former state senate majority leader Kalani English and former state representative Ty Cullen, who both pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud for accepting bribes from Choy in return for manipulating legislation to benefit H2O

Choy, owner and manager of H20 Process Systems, LLC, was charged with bribery of an agent of a federally funded program. Stewart Stant, the former DEM director, was also indicted on a charge of honest services wire fraud, the same charge that brought down English and Cullen.

According to indictments filed U.S. District Court in Hawaii on Aug. 31 and unsealed Thursday, Choy allegedly gave Stant more than $2 million in cash, bank deposits, and paid trips to Las Vegas (including gambling chips) in return for Stant’s help in directing more than $19 million in DEM contracts to Choy’s business.

Maui Mayor Michael Victorino released a statement Friday emphasizing that the dealings between Choy and Stant occurred during the previous mayoral administration.

"I strongly condemn public corruption in all forms," Victorino said. "I am committing my administration to fully cooperate with law enforcement investigators." 

Victorino said he ordered an audit of all no-bid contracts awarded to Choy's companies both current and past.

"Hawaii’s procurement laws ensure fair and transparent handling of government purchases," the mayor said. "Whenever corruption undermines the public trust, those responsible must be investigated, prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law. I cannot, and I will not, tolerate such betrayals of public trust."

The indictment against Stant states that “Choy employed a number of methods to bribe Stant, including making direct deposits of funds into bank accounts owned by Stant, making cash deposits into those accounts, directly handing cash and checks to Stant, providing Stant with gambling chips on mutual trips to Las Vegas, which Choy also funded in part, and by providing Stant with airfare and hotel rooms.”

As itemized in the indictments, some 163 separate payments from Choy, ranging from $1,000 to $20,000, were deposited in Stant’s personal and business accounts between Oct. 25, 2012, and Oct. 19, 2018. The payments totaled $1,377,746.

Over roughly the same period, Stant arranged for H20 to receive 56 sole-source contracts with DEM worth $19,316,930 million, according to the indictment.

The government alleges that Stant “purposely failed to declare any of the money and financial benefits provided to him by Choy in his 2016, 2017 and 2018 financial disclosure forms.

“Through this critical omission, Stant willfully concealed from the citizens of Maui County and the DEM information that would have disclosed his corrupt acceptance of bribes for directing, and endeavoring to direct, sole-source contracts to H20 for personal financial gain,” the filing read.

If convicted, Stant faces a sentence of up to 20 years of imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000, while Choy faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Both men will make their initial court appearances on Sept. 19.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ken Sorenson, Micah Smith and Michael Albanese of the District of Hawaii are prosecuting the case.

At a briefing on Friday, U.S. Attorney Clare Connors called the case “certainly among one of the largest bribery cases that our office has investigated and prosecuted.”

Choy cooperated with federal prosecutors in their cases against former state senate majority leader English and former state representative Cullen, who both pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud for accepting bribes from Choy in return for manipulating legislation to benefit H20.

English is serving a 40-month sentence in federal prison. Cullen is scheduled to be sentenced next month.

Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with a comment from Maui Mayor Mike Victorino. (Sept. 16, 2022)