Category: bribes

Dirty Money: Former Lawmaker Gets 2 Years for Cesspool Bribes

HONOLULU—A former Hawaii lawmaker was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison in a federal corruption case that’s drawn attention to a perennial problem in the islands: the tens of thousands of cesspools that release 50 million gallons of raw sewage into the state’s pristine waters every day. Cesspools—in-ground pits that collect sewage from houses…


Ex-Maui Official, Businessman Plead Guilty for Hawaii Bribes

HONOLULU—A former Maui County official and the Honolulu businessman who paid him $2 million in bribes in exchange for more than $19 million in wastewater contracts each pleaded guilty Monday in one of the largest bribery cases ever prosecuted in Hawaii. Stewart Olani Stant, who was formerly a wastewater manager and the director of Maui’s…


Disgraced Former Dallas Councilman Is Released from Federal Prison

Dwaine Caraway—the former mayor pro-tempore of Dallas, Texas, and a five-term city councilman—was released from prison in February after his conviction for tax evasion and accepting bribes with kickbacks totaling nearly half a million dollars. Caraway was sentenced to federal prison in April of 2019. The disgraced councilman came back to the public eye for…


Two Former Hawaii Lawmakers Who ‘Defrauded Citizens’ When They Accepted Bribes Plead Guilty: DOJ

Two former Hawaii lawmakers who allegedly “defrauded citizens of the state” when they took part in a bribery scheme to benefit a company pleaded guilty Tuesday to felony charges, the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) announced. Jamie Kalani English, 54, and Ty Cullen, 41, were charged with one count each of honest services wire fraud. They are…


Former US Navy Captain Pleads Guilty to Accepting Nearly $68,000 in Bribes

A former U.S. Navy captain on Wednesday pleaded guilty to bribery for accepting nearly $68,000 from a foreign defense contractor. Donald Hornbeck, 61, admitted in San Diego federal court to receiving at least $67,830 in bribes in extravagant dinners, hotels, parties, and prostitutes from foreign defense contractor Leonard Francis, while he directed the operations of…


Judge Agrees to May 2022 Trial Date for Huizar

LOS ANGELES—The judge overseeing the public corruption case involving ex-Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar agreed May 10 to put off the trial until next year. Citing concerns over issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, attorney schedules and voluminous evidentiary materials, prosecutors and defense lawyers filed a stipulation to start the trial on May 24,…


What Does Lai Xiaomin’s Speedy Execution Mean for China?

Commentary On Jan. 29, Lai Xiaomin, former chairman of China’s largest asset management firm, was executed in Tianjin city. Lai, who was head of China Huarong Asset Management Co., was charged with accepting bribes totaling 1.788 billion yuan ($280 million). On Jan. 5, the Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate Court sentenced Lai to death for taking…


US Motions Expand Drug Claims Against Honduras President

NEW YORK—U.S. federal prosecutors have filed motions saying that Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández took bribes from drug traffickers and had the country’s armed forces protect a cocaine laboratory and shipments to the United States. The documents quote Hernández as saying he wanted to “’shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos’ by…


Lori Loughlin Released After Prison Term in College Scam

“Full House” actor Lori Loughlin was released from prison Monday after spending two months behind bars for paying half a million dollars in bribes to get her two daughters into college. Loughlin was released from the federal lockup in Dublin, California, where she had been serving her sentence for her role in the college admissions…