Rodrigues asks to be free during appeal

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

By his lawyer's estimate, former Hawai'i United Public Workers Union leader Gary Rodrigues will likely get between six and seven years in prison when he is sentenced today in federal court on mail fraud, money laundering, embezzlement and kickback charges.

Gary Rodrigues will be sentenced today. Advertiser library photo

Weinberg is arguing that Rodrigues is not a flight risk, that the jury was given improper instructions and that insufficient evidence was produced to convict Rodrigues of defrauding a union healthcare plan. Weinberg will also argue that the appeal is not being filed only to allow Rodrigues to delay the prison term.

However, assistant U.S. Attorney Florence Nakakuni says Rodrigues is, in fact, asking to remain free on bail while he appeals the verdicts specifically to avoid having to begin his prison term. And the other arguments are without merit, Nakakuni said.

"It is the government's position that the trial evidence proved that defendant Gary Rodrigues is a manipulator who has refused to take responsibility for his conduct with respect to the union to which he owed a fiduciary duty and with respect to his daughter, Robin Haunani Rodrigues Sabatini," Nakakuni said in her request asking U.S. District Judge David Ezra not to allow Rodrigues to remain free on bail during his appeal.

Rodrigues' 21-year tenure as state director of the 12,000-member union made him one of the most powerful men in the state as well as one of the most politically influential. But the empire Rodrigues built during more than 30 years' service to the union came crashing down around him last year when a federal court jury found him guilty as charged of 102 criminal counts and Sabatini of 95 counts.

At the heart of the case against Rodrigues, now 61, was the prosecution's claim that he negotiated for health and dental insurance coverage for UPW members and made a secret arrangement with the insurance providers to return a portion of the premiums so the union could hire a consultant to evaluate the coverage.

The consultant ended up being Sabatini who did little or no work for the hundreds of thousands of dollars she received, some of which she channeled back to Rodrigues, according to court testimony. Sabatini will be sentenced Dec. 9.

Weinberg argued during the trial, and continues to assert, that the consultant fee setup was legal and that union members paid the same or less for their health coverage as compared to other public employee unions.

Reach David Waite at 525-8030 or at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com.