������Ƶ

The defense team in a high-profile Honolulu corruption trial is facing allegations of leaking case records to outside parties, including one instance that involved alleged witness tampering.

Businessman Dennis Mitsunaga and several of his associates are charged with conspiring to bribe former Honolulu prosecuting attorney Keith Kaneshiro, who is also charged in the case. Mitsunaga and his colleagues allegedly steered tens of thousands of campaign dollars to Kaneshiro’s campaign so he would pursue a meritless prosecution against a former Mitsunaga employee, Laurel Mau. 

In an emergency motion filed Sunday evening, San Diego-based federal prosecutors accused unspecified members of the defense team of violating court rules mandating the confidentiality of case evidence. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Hawaii is now investigating a possible attempt to influence a witness in the case, the feds said.

“These are not mere technical violations,” prosecutors said in a court filing. “They are troubling, significant violations. Indeed, the violation of the Court’s Protective Order was committed in conjunction with a blatant attempt to tamper with upcoming witness testimony.” 

Trial documents are meant to be kept private by a protective order, according to the prosecution. 

In early March, the government learned the defense had emailed a copy of a witness’s grand jury transcript to that witness, according to the feds’ filing. The filing doesn’t identify the parties by name. 

Prosecutors said they brought the matter to the attention of defense counsel and pointed out that doing so was a violation of the protective order. 

“Defense counsel claimed ignorance of the provision prohibiting the dissemination of Grand Jury transcripts to witnesses and third parties,” the feds wrote. 

“The United States directed counsel to the provision of the Protective Order, and defense counsel assured his/her compliance with the terms of the Protective Order and that no such dissemination would occur again.”

Prosecutors wrote they felt the matter was resolved so there was no need to bring the issue to the judge. 

In April, the government learned grand jury material also had been shared with Rudy Alivado, a witness in the case and a longtime friend of defendant Dennis Mitsunaga. 

Alivado is expected to be a “damaging witness to the defense,” according to the feds. In recent days, Alivado admitted that defendant Sheri Tanaka, a former lawyer for Mitsunaga’s firm, “coached him to lie” about Mau during a 2014 civil trial, the feds said. 

Alivado falsely testified that when he paid Mau for work done on his property years ago, he believed he was paying her employer, Mitsunaga’s firm, according to prosecutors.

But Alivado, a former Honolulu police officer, recently told the feds that, in fact, he intended for the money to go to Mau.   

“Alivado was willing to lie at the civil trial to help Dennis Mitsunaga because of their longtime business relationship,” the feds said. “At the time he testified in the civil trial, Alivado did not consider his false testimony to be a big deal because it was a civil case, not a criminal case.”

But that civil case would later form the foundation of a criminal prosecution by Kaneshiro’s office. Mau was charged with theft for doing side jobs with company resources, and Alivado — unbeknownst to him — was listed as a victim in the case, prosecutors said. 

Alivado recently told the federal government that during the ongoing trial, an employee of Mitsunaga’s company — Mitsunaga & Associates Inc. — gave him a copy of his July 2021 grand jury testimony. The employee is not named in the government’s filing. 

“Ultimately, the purpose of the meeting was to confront Alivado with his grand jury testimony and persuade him to change what he previously said before the grand jury when called as a witness in this case,” prosecutors said. 

The Mitsunaga & Associates employee, who is not a party to this case, never should have had a copy of the grand jury transcript to begin with, they said. 

Prosecutors asked the court to order a stop to the leaking of documents. 

In court on Monday morning, Mitsunaga’s attorney Nina Marino acknowledged the allegations are “extremely serious.”

“I can assure the court it’s not going to happen again,” she said.

Tommy Otake, an attorney for defendant Chad McDonald, pushed back on the notion that the entire defense team sought to tamper with a witness.

“This shouldn’t be blown out of proportion,” he said.

Judge Timothy Burgess ordered defense counsel to file responses to the feds’ motion by 8 p.m. on Monday. He said the information provided will inform any sanctions he may impose.

“Somehow this discovery got out. And I’m not saying counsel did it,” Burgess said. But he noted he wants to establish safeguards so it doesn’t happen again.

The trial continued on Monday with cross-examination of Mau. The case is expected to continue through mid-May.