Former Honolulu managing director Roy Amemiya gets target letter in Kealoha probe

Jun. 19—Roy Amemiya, who served as the city's managing director under former Mayor Kirk Caldwell, has received a federal target letter from the U.S. Department of Justice as the fallout continues from the federal convictions of disgraced Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha and his former wife, disgraced Deputy Prosecutor Katherine Kealoha.

The target letter represents Amemiya's further involvement into the federal investigations involving the Kealohas and allegations of wrongdoing involving the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, which oversees the city's troubled rail project.

"I can confirm that I received a target letter on behalf of Roy yesterday, " his attorney, Lyle Hosoda, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Friday.

The letter came from the U.S. attorney's office for the Hawaii district, Hosoda said. He declined further comment.

Since the turnover in city government, Amemiya had been working for City Council Budget Chairman Calvin Say, but his employment status was unclear Friday.

Amemiya ran the day-to-day operations of the city and was in charge whenever Caldwell was absent or out of town.

Amemiya represents the highest official in city government under the Caldwell administration to have received a federal target letter. City Corporation Counsel Donna Leong, the city's civilian attorney, was put on paid leave in January 2019 after she also received a target letter from the Department of Justice.

In July, after receiving a Justice Department "subject letter, " Amemiya testified before a federal grand jury. Hosoda at the time said that Amemiya was not the target of any federal investigation and said Amemiya would not discuss his testimony before the grand jury.

Lori Kahikina, HART's interim CEO and executive director, told the Star-Advertiser on Friday that she has not received either a subject letter or target letter and did not know of anyone at HART who may have received either.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice manual, a recipient of a target letter "is a person as to whom the prosecutor or the grand jury has substantial evidence linking him or her to the commission of a crime." A subject letter is sent to a person "whose conduct is within the scope of the grand jury's investigation, " the manual said. It implies that prosecutors do not have sufficient evidence to connect the subject to a crime, but want to obtain more information.

Leong, the city's former Corporation Council, received a target letter from federal authorities in January 2019 as part of the indictments and eventual convictions and federal prison sentences of the Kealohas.

At the time, Caldwell told reporters that Leong's target letter involved her role in the agreement between Louis Kealoha and the Honolulu Police Commission that allowed Kealoha to retire with benefits, including a $250, 000 payout.

In June 2019 a federal jury convicted the Kealohas and two Honolulu Police Department officers of conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

Kealoha was sentenced in December to seven years in federal prison for helping his then-deputy prosecutor wife direct officers in HPD's once-elite Criminal Intelligence Unit to harass, intimidate and frame Katherine Kealoha's uncle, Gerard Puana, as part of a larger conspiracy.

After Louis Kealoha was sentenced, Caldwell announced that the city had begun the process to get Kealoha to return the settlement that the Honolulu Police Commission gave him in January 2017 to retire in the face of the scandal.

Kealoha's retirement was effective March 2017, and the $250, 000 settlement package included the caveat that he must repay it if he was convicted of a felony.

At the time, the Kealohas were each obligated to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution.

The Kealohas had separately agreed to pay $165, 269 to two children whom Katherine Kealoha was supposed to protect financially. In October 2019 she pleaded guilty to stealing their inheritance to help bankroll a lavish lifestyle the Kealohas could not afford on their own.

The Kealohas in October 2019 also agreed to forfeit $63, 476 from the sale of the home they once shared.

At the time, they also each agreed to make financial restitution following their 2019 convictions as part of a pre-sentencing agreement.

The pair each agreed to pay $289, 714 to their victims, including $46, 261 to Puana and $243, 453 to Katherine Kealoha's grandmother Florence Puana, whom Kealoha conned into a reverse mortgage that Kealoha stole.

In separate sentencing hearings, Chief U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright also ordered the Kea ­lohas to each pay $455, 684.78 in restitution.

Gerard Puana at the time told the Star-Advertiser that he did not expect to see any of the money owed him from either of the Kealohas because of their overwhelming financial burdens.

As part of his retirement after 33 years with HPD, Kealoha also receives a pension and health coverage.

His annual salary was $182, 088.