Updated at 1:19 p.m., Thursday, October 4, 2007
Bid-rigging lands 3 in prison for at least 5 years
Advertiser Staff
Three men in their 60s were sentenced in U.S. District Court this morning to five years or more of prison time for their involvement in a long-running contract bid-rigging scheme at Honolulu International Airport.They also were ordered to pay their share of approximately $4.5 million in restitution as well as about $700,000 in investigative costs incurred by the state.
Deputy U.S. Attorney Lawrence Tong called the 11-year operation "a sophisticated scheme that circumvented the public contracting law." The men were sentenced for crimes that investigators said occurred between 1997 and 2002 but prosecutors said they believe the scheme dated back at least six years more.
Contractor Michael Furukawa, 62, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Ezra to six years and three months in prison. Former state employee Dennis Hirokawa, 65, was sentenced to nine years in prison and former state employee Richard Okada, 66, was sentenced to five years in prison.
In all, four men were sentenced to prison and restitution in U.S. District Court, while six others pleaded guilty and were sentenced to restitution in state Circuit Court. Seven of the men were contractors, three of them state employees.
